Canadian scenery illustrated

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Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

from

the estate of

J. Stuart Fleming

Digitized by the Internet Archive
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iOHMOri, VIRTUE & COM.FAWT,.

CANADIAN SCENERY

ILLUSTRATED.

FROM DRAWINGS BY W. H. BARTLETT.

THE LITERARY DEPARTMENT BY

N. P. WILLIS, ESQ.

AUTHOR OF “ PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY,” “ INKLINGS OF ADVENTURE,” ETC.

VOL. II.

LONDON :

GEORGE VIRTUE, 26, IVY LANE.

LIST OF THE ENGRAVINGS

VOL. II.

Montreal, from the Mountain, to face the Vignette — (The Horseshoe Fall).

The Cathedral, Montreal 2

Interior of the Cathedral, Montreal .... 3

Timber Slide at Les Chats 5

The Lac Des Allumettes 5

Junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence . . 5

The Owl’s-Head Lake, Memphremagog ... 6

Portage des Chats 6

Bridge at Bytown, Upper Canada 6

Falls of the Ottawa at Les Chats .... 6

The Rideau Canal, Bytown 7

Locks on the Rideau Canal 7

Mill on the Rideau River, near Bytown ... 8

The Ottawa River at Bytown 8

Church at Point Levi 8

The Citadel of Quebec 9

The Market-Place at Quebec 11

Timber Depot near Quebec 12

Mills at Sherbrooke, on the River Magog . . 14

Bridge at Sherbrooke 15

Pass of Bolton, Eastern Townships 15

Scene on the St. Francis, near Sherbrooke . . 15

Orford Mountain 15

Lake Memphremagog 16

Outlet of Lake Memphremagog 17

A Settler’s Hut on the Frontier 19

Davis’s Clearing, Eastern Townships .... 21
View from the House of R. Shirreff, Esq. . . 23
Timber Slide and Bridge on the Ottawa ... 24
Lake Massawhippy, Eastern Townships ... 25

Lake Farm on the Frontier -26

Lake beneath the Owl’s-Head Mountain ... 27
Orford Lake 28

PAGE

View over Lake Memphremagog 30

Working a Canoe up a Rapid 44

Scene on the River St. Lawrence 46

Brockville, St. Lawrence ... .... 49

Kingston, Lake Ontario 50

Coburg 51

Light Tower, near Coburg 55

Wellington, on Lake Ontario 61

A Shanty on Lake Chaudiere 64

Indian Scene on the St. Lawrence , ... 91

V iew on the Frontier Line, near Stanstead

Plains 93

Falls on the St. John River 98

A First Settlement 99

Fredericton 101

Fredericton, from the opposite side ..... 102

The Green at Fredericton 102

The Governor’s House, Fredericton .... 103

Indian Town, St. John River 105

Split Rock, St. John River 105

St. John, from the Signal 106

St. John, and Portland 106

Lily Lake, St. John 107

Scene in the Bay of Annapolis 109

Old Fort, near Annapolis Royal 110

Kent ville, Nova Scotia Ill

The General’s Bridge, near Annapolis . . .111

Windsor, Nova Scotia 112

Residence of Judge Haliburton 113

Cape Blowmedown and Parrsbop.o’ 114

Cape Split, Bay of Fundy 114

Halifax, from Dartmouth 115

CANADIAN SCENERY.

CHAP. I.

MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The rural districts of Trois Rivieres, so far as they lie northward of the St. Law-
rence, form a continuation of the same kind of territory as that below, and are in
general flatter, and capable of more uniform cultivation. To the westward, especially
in ascending the river, it presents a succession of flourishing settlements and gay
villages, occurring every eight or nine miles. These extend, particularly along the
Lake of St. Peter, a wide expansion of the St. Lawrence, about twenty-five miles
long, and from five to ten broad, but its depth in many places does not exceed
twelve feet. Hence the intricate channels, through which alone large vessels can be
navigated, must be marked by poles or other beacons. The shores are extremely
flat, but numerous verdant islands enliven the western extremity, which also mark
the boundary of the provinces. Near the eastern frontier, the Batiscan, with a
village of the same name at its mouth, falls into the great river.

The district of Montreal, if not the most extensive in Lower Canada, is, at least,
that which contains the greatest portion of valuable land. Commencing at the
western boundary of Trois Rivieres, it extends along the St. Lawrence, but in that
direction terminates where Upper Canada begins, not far above the capital. It
shoots, however, a long branch of the Ottawa, embracing all the northern bank of
that river, till it is bounded along with the Lower Province, by Lake Temiscaming.
This district, on the north of the St. Lawrence, comprehends the counties of Mont-

VOL. II.

B

2

CANADIAN SCENERY.

real, Berthier, Lachenaye, L’Assomption, Terrebonne, Two Mountains, Yaudreuil,
and Ottawa, containing a population of 147,649. Another portion, nearly equally
valuable, lies on the south side, and will be afterwards described.

Montreal, the chief town in this district, though not ranking as a capital, is equal
to Quebec in magnitude, and superior in commercial importance. Its greatness is
likely to increase, from its favourable situation, and the growing prosperity of
Upper Canada, of which, as being the highest point of the St. Lawrence to which
vessels of the first class can ascend, it always continues the emporium.

The site of this town does not present those bold and grand features which dis-
tinguish the Canadian metropolis, though its beauty can scarcely be surpassed.
The river, in this finest part of its course, divides itself into two channels, inclosing an
island thirty-two miles long and ten and a half broad, which forms one of the most
favoured spots on earth. The soil, everywhere luxuriant, is cultivated like one great
garden, to supply the inhabitants with vegetables and fruit. These last are of the
finest quality, and the apples especially are said to display that superiority which
so remarkably distinguishes them in the New World. Although the island possesses
in general that level surface that fits it for a thorough cultivation, yet about a mile
and a half north-east rises a hill, 550 feet high, commanding a noble view over
the fertile country, which is watered by the several branches and tributaries of the
St. Lawrence. Its face is covered with agreeable villas, and its wooded heights
form a frequent resort to pleasure parties from the city ; but the intention now
understood to be entertained of erecting fortifications on its summit, will, if put into
execution, banish in a great measure its rural character.

The city, built on the southern border of this fine island, is not crowded like Quebec
into a limited space, which can alone be covered with streets and habitations. It
has a wide level surface to extend over, so that even the older streets are of tolerable
breadth, and several of them occupy its entire length. The principal one, Rue
Notre Dame, considerably exceeds half a mile in extent, and contains many of the
chief public buildings. There is an upper and lower town, though the difference of
elevation is very slight ; but the former is much the more handsome of the two.
The seven suburbs are not, as in the older capital, detached and extraneous, but on
the same level, and immediately adjacent. Their streets, continued in the direction
of those in the body of the place, are regular, and display many handsome houses.
The vicinity is adorned with beautiful villas.

Of the public edifices, the new catholic cathedral, completed in 1829, is undoubt-
edly the most splendid, and is, in fact, superior to any other in British America.
Its style is a species of Gothic ; it is 255 feet 6 inches in length, and 134 feet 6
inches in breadth. The flanks rise 61 feet above the terrace, and there are six
towers, of which the three belonging to the main front are 220 feet high. It is

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MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

3

faced with excellent stone, and roofed with tin. The principal window is 64 feet
in height, and 32 broad. On the roof has been formed a promenade, 76 feet by 20,
elevated 120 feet, and commanding a most delightful view. The interior contains 1244
pews, equal to the accommodation of at least 10,000 persons. There are five public
and three private entrances to the first floor, and four to the galleries, so disposed that
this vast congregation can easily assemble and disperse in a few minutes. The
building comprises seven chapels, all visible from the front entrance, and nine
spacious aisles. The high altar bears a resemblance to that at St. Peter’s at Rome,
the pulpit to that of the cathedral at Strasburg. The large window is painted, but
not in good style ; it is intended that it shall be filled hereafter with stained glass.
The other catholic edifices belong mostly to the order of St. Sulpice, by whose mem-
bers, as formerly mentioned, Montreal was chiefly founded, and who hold the
superiority of the whole island upon which it stands. Their seminary, which is a
large and commodious building adjoining the cathedral, occupies three sides of
a square, 132 feet long by 90 deep, and is surrounded by spacious gardens. To
extend its benefits, the order have lately, at an expense of 10,000/., erected a
handsome additional building, 210 feet by 45. In these establishments, the numer-
ous students, attending all the branches of learning and philosophy, are taught at
very moderate charges. There are two large nunneries ; the principal one, called
the Congregation of Notre Dame, contains a superior and sixty sisters, who receive
boarders at a low rate, and send teachers to different parts of the district. The
Sceurs G'is (Grey Sisters) consist of a superior and twenty-four nuns, who admit
into their spacious apartments the infirm poor, and are said to treat them with great
humanity. The Hotel Dieu is a large conventual structure, occupied by a superior
and thirty-six nuns, and is also appropriated to the reception of the sick and
indigent. Its utility is limited by the smallness of its funds, notwithstanding occa-
sional grants from the legislature. The Monastery of the Recollets, which occupies
extensive grounds at the end of Notre Dame-street, is now demolished, though its
church is still used for public worship.

The English establishments, both for religion and education, are also very respect-
able. The Episcopal church in the street just named, is a very handsome specimen
of modern architecture, and is surmounted by a lofty spire. The Scotch church is
plain, but attended by a highly respectable congregation. In 1814, a most import-
ant donation was made by a wealthy individual — the Hon. James M‘Gill — to found
a college for the principal branches of education. The endowments consist of a
valuable estate at the Mountain, with 10,000/. in money. It has not, however, yet
come into operation, in consequence of a law-suit, which did not terminate till 1835,
when the available funds in the hands of the institution amounted to 22,000 /. It is
to be conducted on the most liberal system, — individuals of every religious persua-

4

CANADIAN SCENERY.

sion being admitted as students, and even as teachers. There is a Natural History
Society and a Mechanics’ Institution, whose labours have been meritorious. The
private establishments for education are also respectable. The limited means of the
Hotel Dieu are amply compensated by the more ample income of the Montreal
General Hospital, which was built in 1821-2 by voluntary subscription, at an
expense of nearly 6000/. It is said to be one of the best regulated institutions of
the kind in America.

The harbour of Montreal does not seem to have received all the attention which
its importance merits. It is somewhat confined, and has no wharfage, though close
to the bank, in front of the town, is a depth of fifteen feet, sufficient for the largest
vessels which ascend to this point. Its chief disadvantage consists in two shoals, and
in the Rapid of St. Mary’s, about a mile below, which vessels often find it difficult
to stem. Important improvements are now contemplated, and a grant for the pur-
pose has been even voted by the legislature. The communication with the opposite
sides of the river is carried on by means of ten ferries, on several of which ply a
number of steam-vessels. A wooden bridge was once constructed from Repentigny,
on the northern shore, but in the spring after its completion it was carried down by
the masses of ice. It is still thought that one of larger span might be constructed
free from that danger.

In considering the rural districts of Montreal, so far as they extend northward of
the St. Lawrence, we shall begin with the tract reaching down to the province of
Trois Rivieres. It presents an aspect similar to that of the whole coast from
Quebec, but still more level, and also more fertile and populous. It forms one
uninterrupted succession of flourishing settlements with villages, on a larger scale
than in the lower districts. Berthier, with 850 inhabitants, on a branch of the St.
Lawrence, called the North Channel, is a great thoroughfare, being midway between
Trois Rivieres and Montreal, and supplying a variety of goods to the neighbouring
seigniories. St. Eustache, on the channel called Jesus, or St. Jean, which seems to
be a joint branch of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, commands the route to the terri-
tories on the latter river ; and, before the recent insurrection, had a considerable
traffic, and a population of fully a thousand. The Isle Jesus, separated from the
main land by this channel, extends parallel to that of Montreal for the space of
twenty-one miles, and is six at its greatest breadth. It is throughout level, fertile,
and highly cultivated ; the original forest being almost entirely extirpated, except for
ornament and fuel. In this quarter, on the small lake of the Two Mountains, are a
couple of villages belonging to the Algonquins and Iroquois, containing altogether
about two hundred houses.

The portion of Montreal district on the St. Lawrence extends to Pointe au
Baudet, fifty-five miles above the capital, where it meets the boundary of Upper

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MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

5

Canada. This tract, between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, forms the county
ofVaudreuil; it is level, diversified only by a few gentle hills, and is also very
fruitful. Yaudreuil and Rigaud are only villages; the chief importance being
attached to the places which lie on the river. La Chine is about eight miles above
Montreal, where the navigation is interrupted by the fall of St. Louis, to obviate
which, the fine canal, bearing its name, has been erected, at an expense of 137,00(F.
This village, which originally received its appellation from the chimerical idea that
it would afford a route to China, stills forms an important point in the navigation
both of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, near whose junction it is situated. About
twelve miles farther up, at the village of Pointe des Cascades, commences a series of
formidable cataracts, which, with little interruption, extend about nine miles.
There is nowhere any high fall ; but the stream, filled with hidden rocks and
covered with breakers, dashes like the waves of a tempestuous ocean. Yet the
rafts, the Durham boats, and bateaux constructed for the purpose, can, under
skilful guidance, be safely piloted through these dangerous rapids. The crews,
however, are often obliged to unload the most bulky part of their cargo, and have
it conveyed by land. Steam navigation, which ceases at one end of this obstruction,
is resumed at the other ; and the village of the Cedars, situated opposite to the
rapids of the same name, is the chief depot for the land-passage. It commands a
magnificent view of the foaming billows, and of the barks which steer through them
their perilous course.

The Ottawa province, extending about 350 miles along the northern bank of
that great river, forms, as it were, a very extensive wing, detached from the district
and from Lower Canada, while the upper province extends opposite to it along the
southern bank. Thus the boundary between these two territories, which at first
runs due north, as soon as it strikes the Ottawa stretches first north-west, and then
almost due west. This extensive tract is as yet by no means occupied or improved
in proportion to its natural capabilities. The numerous obstacles to the navigation,
though now in part removed, have doubtless greatly retarded its settlement.

The upper part of the river beyond the falls and Portage des Allumettes, is used
by the fur-traders, who have a post also in Lake Temiscaming, more than 350 miles
above the junction of the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence ; but this tract has never
been surveyed, nor even accurately described. Up to the Portage, it is regularly
frequented by the lumberers, who find valuable supplies of pine and oak, which
they contrive to float down in rafts, through all obstructions. At the Allumettes
the stream separates into two channels, enclosing an island fifteen miles long, and
forming three small lakes, called the Allumettes, the Mud, and the Musk Rat. On
the latter is one solitary farm, said to be in a prosperous condition. Eight miles
below the junction of these channels is Fort Coulange, where the Hudson’s Bay

VOL. II. c

6

CANADIAN SCENERY.

Company have a post, near which is one well-cultivated settlement. Four or five
miles down, another division of the stream forms an island of about twenty miles long ;
but the two channels are much impeded by falls and rapids. The northern, which is
the more practicable, has four portages within a few miles of the port of junction,
and there is another five miles below it. The falls are not above eight or ten feet high,
but they are much broken by masses of rock, and have a very wild appearance.

For ten miles downwards the stream is beautifully diversified by wooded islands,
through which it rushes with various degrees of violence. The banks, great part of
the way, consist of white marble, somewhat soft and coarse ; but farther inland, it
is believed, a superior description would be found. At the end of this tract, Bisset’s
chantier, a solitary log-house, with a few cleared acres, relieves the eye after the
monotony of these vast solitudes ; it affords also a welcome asylum to the fur and
timber traders. Soon after, the view opens upon the magnificent expanse of the
Lake des Chats, about fifteen miles long, studded with richly-wooded islets. On the
south are one or two scattered mansions, and particularly Kinnell Lodge, the
residence of the Highland chieftain, M‘Nab. The northern side appears unin-
habited ; yet at a little distance from the beach is the settlement of Clarendon,
formed in 1829, and in 1831 containing 257 inhabitants. The township of Bristol,
in 1828, presented only a few poor hovels and 31 settlers, which number had,
in 1831, increased to 96, and in 1836 to not less than 445. At length the lake
suddenly contracts, and the rapids of the Chats, for three miles, dash in violent
eddies, amid a labyrinth of islands. They terminate in the Falls des Chats, fifteen
or sixteen in number, extending in a curved line across the river, and divided by
wooded islands ; but only from sixteen to twenty feet high. The northern coast,
having a rocky and uneven surface, forms the township of Onslow, which in 1836
had 150 settlers.

About six miles below this point commences Lake Chaudiere, an expanse eighteen
miles long, and, like the former, terminating in rapids, succeeded by falls. These
last, called the Great and Little Chaudiere (Kettle), are on a larger scale, 60 feet
high and 212 broad. The descending torrent, striking on a great circular rock, is
thrown up in clouds of spray, which conceal the bottom of the fall, and often rise in
revolving columns high above its summit. A great portion of the water being
unaccounted for, is believed to escape through subterraneous channels. Imme-
diately below, where the stream still rolls in rapid eddies, a bridge has been thrown
across. The difficulties of the undertaking were overcome by dividing the structure
into four parts, consisting of different materials. The broadest span is stretched by
means of a hempen fabric, composed of three-inch cables, forming an inverted
segment of a circle, the lowest point of which is only seven feet above the torrent.
But at no time can it be passed without a feeling of peril.

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MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

7

The township of Onslow is followed by that of Eardley, extending along Lake
Chaudiere, and having much excellent land, which is very imperfectly occupied by
200 persons. Below is Hull, the most flourishing of all the upper settlements on
the Ottawa. Its front towards the river is level or gently undulating ; but it rises
behind into hills, some 900 feet high, yet finely wooded, or affording good pasturage.
It is watered by the large river Gatineau, and contains valuable mines of iron and
quarries of marble. This township was surveyed by Philemon Wright, an American
loyalist, who in 1806 obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of it for himself and his
associates. Having, by his pecuniary advances, secured the exclusive property of
the greater portion, as well as of large tracts in neighbouring townships, he has
become a most extensive landowner. By great exertions he has rendered it
extremely flourishing, and has led the way in all the measures now taking for the
improvement of this fine district. The town of Wright, situated immediately
opposite to the great Rideau Canal, must rapidly grow in importance. Its popu-
lation is already considerable, and it contains a neat church and comfortable hotel.
The Chaudiere Falls and the bridge immediately adjoin it.

From this point to Grenville, sixty miles distant, the Ottawa affords an unin-
terrupted navigation for steam vessels. The township of Hull is succeeded by those
of Templeton, Buckingham, and Lochaber. Large tracts were here granted to
different proprietors, who unfortunately have not taken due pains to increase their
value ; and the space for new settlers has been further narrowed by the crown and
clergy reserves. Steps, however, are taking to induce the owners either to improve
or renounce their possessions, and to arrange the preserves on such a principle, that
they may not interrupt the continuity of settlement. The population of all three,
which in 1828 little exceeded 300, has since been greatly augmented. Buckingham,
in 1831, contained 570; Lochaber, 236; Templeton, in 1836, supposed 390.
La Petite Nation, a seigniory early formed, but as yet only partially settled,
acquired a considerable accession of Irish emigrants, through the exertions of
M. Papineau, the seignior, who erected extensive saw-mills on its eastern border.
It has now 826 settlers.

The township of Grenville, which next follows, may be considered as commencing
the densely-peopled portion of Lower Canada. This is not owing to its fertility,
which is much impeded by the interruption of hilly ground, connected with the
lofty range which traverses the interior. A branch from this gives rise to the
rugged cataract named the Long Sault, which can be passed only by the most skilful
voyageurs; and obstructions continue to occur as far as Point Fortune, where the
river, opening into the Lake of the Two Mountains, becomes united with the
St. Lawrence. To remedy this evil, a fine canal, called the Grenville, which will
be more fully described afterwards, has been formed. Numerous individuals

8

CANADIAN SCENERY.

employed on this work have settled and taken farms in the township, which by
these means had acquired, in 1886, a population estimated at 1450. Below is
Chatham, which, through exertions commenced in 1806 by Colonel Robertson,
Dr. Fraser, and others, has become one of the most flourishing settlements. Though
traversed by some naked hills, it has extensive level tracts, and the public road is
every where bordered by thriving farms and handsome dwelling-houses, built of
brick. The population in 1831 was 2604. Chatham Gore, a rising township, has
already 473, all Irish protestants. Here the Ottawa country terminates, Chatham
being bounded by Argenteuil, the first of that range of old French settlements
which extend along the river as far as Quebec.

CHAP. II.

QUEBEC AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The district of Quebec occupies the whole coast watered by the gulf and river of
St. Lawrence, from the eastern limit of the colony to the mouth of the river
St. Anne, about thirty miles below Trois Rivieres ; and thence, in a direct line, to
the northern boundary. The greater part of this extensive section belongs to the
uncultivated portion of the country, and presents a chaos of mountains, lakes, and
torrents, tenanted only by wild beasts and a few wandering Indians. At Cape
Tourment, however, it begins to give place to a tract of a much more pleasing
character ; and though still traversed by rugged eminences, it contains much fertile
land, which is described as being at once romantic and beautiful. On the northern
side of the St. Lawrence it is divided into the counties of Quebec, Montmorenci,
Orleans, and Port Neuf, and comprised, in 1831, a population of 56,615.

In the midst of this fine landscape stands Quebec, the capital of British America.
It is seated on a promontory stretching out into the river, which, by means of it and
Point Levi on the opposite side, is narrowed to about three quarters of a mile.

>

V

QUEBEC AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

9

though immediately below it spreads out into a wide basin. Cape Diamond, the
most elevated point of the city, is reckoned by an eminent traveller 1000 feet high ;
a proof of the fallacious nature of such estimates, since the more accurate observa-
tions of Bouchette fixes it at 345. Above a hundred feet lower is an elevated
plain, on which are built the castle and the whole of what is termed the upper
town. Thence a perpendicular steep of above 200 feet descends to the banks of the
St. Lawrence ; and in the narrow interval between this precipice and the river is
the lower town, the crowded seat of business and shipping.

The scenery of Quebec and the surrounding country is described by all travellers
as rivaling in picturesque beauty the most favoured parts of the earth. The navi-
gator who ascends the St. Lawrence, after he has passed the Isle of Orleans, and
entered the broad basin already mentioned, where he first comes in sight of this
capital, is struck with intense admiration. He sees its citadel crowning a lofty
cliff, its castle and batteries overhanging a range of formidable steeps, the river
crowded with numerous vessels of every form and size, from the huge timber-raft to
the bark canoe. The fall of Montmorenci appears dashing its white foam almost to
the clouds, and on each side is a long range of fertile and beautiful shore. On
ascending Cape Diamond, a still grander and more extensive panorama bursts upon
his view, combining all the boldness of rude with the richness of cultivated nature.
Up and down the magnificent stream of the St. Lawrence is a reach of more than
forty miles, on which sails almost innumerable are in ceaseless movement. Below
is the beautiful Isle of Orleans, while the opposite coast is diversified by a great
variety of natural and cultivated scenery. To the north appears the river
St. Charles, winding amid fertile valleys and hills, with villages hanging on their
sides, while the prospect is closed by a bold screen of mountains. Mr. Weld prefers
the views from the upper town, where, though fewer objects are seen, they appear
more distinct and brilliant. This traveller, after visiting a great part of Europe and
America, gives to them a preference over every thing he had observed on either
continent. Mr. M£ Gregor considers them similar, but much superior, to those from
the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling.

Quebec, from its situation and the care with which it has been fortified, is a very
strong town, and considered the chief bulwark of British America. On the summit
of the lofty headland just described stands the citadel. The rock consists of gray
granite mixed with quartz crystals, and a species of dark-coloured slate. About
forty acres are here covered with works, carried to the edge of the precipice, and
connected by massive walls and batteries with the other defences of the place. The
main body of the fortress, however, consists of the upper town, whose fortifications
enclose a circuit of about two miles and three quarters. The face of the hill towards
the river is so precipitous, that it requires only a common wall to protect it, though

VOL. II.

D

10

CANADIAN SCENERY.

the gate leading from the lower town is defended by heavy cannon, and the steep
approach by Mountain-street is enfiladed and flanked by many guns of large calibre.
As the declivity towards the interior and the plains of Abraham does not present
the same abrupt face, but descends by successive ridges, it has been strengthened by
a series of regular works, including ditch, covered way, and glacis, with some
exterior defences to obstruct the approach of an enemy. It seems probable, there-
fore, that the place would hold out against any attack, till the approach of the
rigorous winter should compel the assailants to raise the siege.

The upper town, which these fortifications enclose, forms the chief part of
Quebec, and the residence of all the principal inhabitants not engaged in trade. It
is a tolerably handsome old-looking town ; the houses being mostly of stone, partly
roofed with tin. The streets are well paved, and in some instances macadamized,
but they are much too narrow, as the broadest does not exceed thirty-two feet.
St. Louis-street, the almost exclusive residence of the fashionable circle, has been
lately adorned with several elegant mansions. The public buildings are commodious
and substantial, without much pretension to architectural ornament. The Castle of
St. Louis, a large, plain baronial-looking edifice, forms the dwelling of the Governor.
It comprises a space of four acres, once fortified ; but the great extension of the
works has rendered its walls superfluous, and they are allowed to go to decay. The
apartments are large and commodious, and the veranda commands a magnificent
vista up the river. Adjoining is a spacious structure, once occupied by govern-
ment offices, now chiefly employed for public entertainments. The enclosure
contains two excellent and well-cultivated gardens.

Of religious edifices the chief is the Roman Catholic cathedral, being 216 feet
long by 180 in breadth, and capable of containing a congregation of 4000. The
interior has a lofty and solemn aspect, but the outside is heavy and not in very good
taste. There are several other Catholic churches. The English cathedral, though
smaller, being only 136 feet long by 75 broad, and in a simple style, is considered
extremely neat. The Scotch church is much inferior. The monastic establishments
are spacious. The Hotel-Dieu, founded in 1637 by the Duchess d’Aiguillon,
includes a convent, church and courtyard, besides cemetery and gardens. The
range of buildings is extensive, but without any ornament ; and its chief use is as
an hospital, in which respect it affords the greatest benefit to the colony. A prioress
and thirty-two nuns are continually employed in ministering to the sick, with a
great degree of attention and skill : hence Government have been induced to make
occasional grants in addition to the considerable revenues attached to the establish-
ment. The Ursuline Convent is a neat building, in the heart of the city, surrounded
by fine gardens. It was founded, in 1639, by Madame de la Peltrie, chiefly for the
purposes of education. The inmates, forty-six in number, observe a somewhat

QUEBEC AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

11

rigid seclusion, but they instruct, in reading, writing, and needlework, a certain
number of girls, comprehending even Protestants. They are very assiduous in
embroidery and other ornamental works, especially for ecclesiastical vestments ; and
the fruits of their industry are often sold at high prices, which are thrown into the
common stock. The spacious monastery of the Jesuits, 224 feet by 200, surrounded
by noble gardens, was forfeited on the suppression of that order, and at the con-
quest was regarded as crown property. It was then converted into a place of
exercise for the troops, and, to the regret of many, its fine trees were cut down , but
the legislature of the province have lately petitioned for its being restored to its
original purpose of education. The large edifice, called the Seminary, with an
extensive domain attached to it, was founded, in 1663, by M. de Petre, with a view
to the instruction of the Catholic clergy. It is now open to all students of that
persuasion, who are initiated in the different branches of knowledge upon paying the
trifling sum of five shillings annually to defray incidental expenses. Pupils, indeed,
may be' boarded as well as taught for 1 21. 10s. a year.

The buildings employed for public purposes are ample and commodious, though
mostly reared for different objects. The bishop’s palace formed an extremely
elegant residence, with a chapel and many conveniences ; but, in return for an
annuity, it was relinquished, and now accommodates the two branches of the legis-
lature. About the year 1803, a very handsome house was erected by a joint stock
company, in the best situation the town afforded, with the view of being employed
as an hotel. This plan, however, being abandoned, it was sold to the chief justice,
and is now leased at 500£. a year by government, who give it up to the use of their
chief civil departments. It contains also the museum of the Literary and Historical
Society, founded in 1824, and which, in 1829, was united to that for the promotion
of arts and sciences. The collection is said to be valuable, in regard to mineralogy
and botany. There is a Library also, though only in its infancy. The artillery
barracks form a long range of building, somewhat roughly constructed, but sub-
stantial and convenient. The Armoury contains equipments for 20,000 men, and,
being extremely well arranged, excites the admiration of strangers.

The market is held in an open space, 250 feet long, with a breadth in some places
of about 165. A large building with stalls has been reared in the centre, though
the chief business is still transacted on the open ground. It is held every day, but
Saturday is the busiest. The crowds of carters, with their wives and families,
bringing in the productions of the surrounding country, their brawlings and vocifera-
tions in bad French and broken English, form a scene of noise and confusion, amid
which appear a few Indian squaws, and the gentlemen of the city and garrison going
round to make purchases. Every kind of provision is abundant and cheap, except
fish, which is less plentiful than might be expected from the situation. Among

12

CANADIAN SCENERY.

public places may also be mentioned the Grand Parade in front of the castle,
surrounded by the most distinguished edifices ; and also the Esplanade, a large level
space along the interior wall, which is the chief theatre for military exercises.

The lower town is a narrow crowded range of buildings, extending along the base
of the precipice. The spot on which it stands is entirely the creation of human
industry ; for, originally, the waves at high water beat the very foot of the rock.
Wharfs, however, have been founded, and carried out into the river, though nowhere
farther than 240 yards, and on these streets have been erected. So limited, indeed,
is the space, that the quarter beyond Cape Diamond communicates with the rest
only by a path cut in many places through the solid rock. This part of Quebec is
compared to the most irregular and confused districts of Edinburgh. It is connected
with the upper town by what is called Mountain-street, which formerly was not
passable for carriages without extreme difficulty, but has of late been much
improved. The Breakneck- stairs, as they are denominated, are more commodious
for foot passengers. Besides extensive wharfs, the lower town contains the Quebec
bank, which, in addition to apartments for its appropriate purpose, has others for a
fire assurance company, and a subscription library, the most extensive and valuable
in Canada. The government warehouses are all spacious, and the custom-house
having been found inconvenient, the foundation-stone of a new one was laid in 1831.
Amid wharfs lately formed on the flat beach of the St. Charles, has been erected the
exchange building, an elegant structure, containing a spacious reading room, and
several others devoted to commercial purposes. Projects are in contemplation for
erecting a pier, which would also serve as a bridge across the estuary ; an improve-
ment, which, while it would afford ample space for the extension of the lower town,
would enable the largest vessels and rafts to lie in security, instead of resorting, as at
present, to caves in the neighbourhood.

On the inland side of the fortress, stretching more than a mile into the interior,
are the large suburbs of St. Roche and St. John. They are built regularly, but
chiefly of wood, and with accommodations suited only to the lower ranks ; though
of late, indeed, they have been adorned with many stone houses of a superior class.
There is also a smaller suburb, named St. Louis.

Quebec maintains a constant communication with Point Levi on the opposite
shore, whence it derives a great part of its provisions. A steam ferry-boat plies
every half hour, making the trip in about ten or fifteen minutes. The navigation
also being very properly left free, the river is constantly covered with numerous
canoes, generally hollowed out from the trunks of trees. The boatmen brave the
most tempestuous weather ; and, though often driven several leagues out of their
course, are scarcely ever wrecked. Even in winter, when they must encounter
blocks of ice, with which the channel is encumbered, they contrive with ropes and

QUEBEC AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

13

iron-pointed poles to raise their vessels upon the surface of the masses, and drag
them along till they find open water on which to launch it. When this channel is
frozen entirely over, the communication becomes still more easy. A line is marked
with beacons placed by the Grand Yoyer, over which hay, firewood, with other bulky
articles, are transported abundantly and at reduced prices. This advantage occurs
only occasionally ; but every year the channel between the Isle of Orleans and the
northern coast is frozen over, when the produce of that fertile spot, reserved for the
occasion, finds a ready conveyance. Formerly, milk and vegetables were brought in
a frozen state from distant quarters, but now these commodities are procured in
abundance from the neighbourhood.

The society of Quebec is more gay and polished than is usual in colonial cities,
where the pursuit of wealth forms too often the sole object of the inhabitants.
Here, besides merchants, there are a number of British civil and military officers, and
a body of French noblesse, living on their domains. These different classes do not, it
is said, always thoroughly amalgamate. The French, though often superior in
manners and habits, are in some degree disdained by the ruling people, which they
do not well brook. Among the English themselves, the chief test of rank is an
introduction at the castle, without which strangers will find themselves placed below
those whom they would have been classed above in the mother country. The hotels
are good, and, after the fashion of the United States, the inmates commonly dine at
a table d’hote, which often affords to the visiter the opportunity of meeting with
interesting characters. He can, however, if he wishes, have private apartments.

The cultivated country northward of Quebec does not extend far, being closely
hemmed in by the range of mountains, and settlement being obstructed through the
very imperfect titles by which alone the land can be conveyed. Immediately west-
ward, in front of the fortification, are the Plains of Abraham, memorable as the
scene whereon Quebec was gained by the gallant Wolfe, and whence only it can be
successfully assailed. The summit, indeed, is 330 feet high, which does all but
command the loftiest pinnacle on which Fort Diamond stands. As some security
against this danger, four martello towers have been so placed as to range over the
whole plain. Immediately to the north, a road leads along the heights to the village
of St. Foix, and to the beautifully secluded dingle of Sillery, about four leagues in
length and one in breadth, formerly the seat of a missionary settlement, which we
shall have occasion again to mention. In the same direction from the suburb of
St. Roch is the Huron village of Lorette, near the banks of the river St. Charles,
which in this neighbourhood forms a beautiful cascade. Onward still, twelve miles
from Quebec, is the lake of the same name, about four miles long and one broad.
It is divided into two parts by projecting ledges, and the upper one especially is
finely diversified by rocks, woods, bays, hills, and lofty mountains in the distance.

VOL. II.

E

14

CANADIAN SCENERY.

Crossing the St. Charles, and going eastward through the agreeable village of
Beauport, we reach the Falls of Montmorenci, one of the most picturesque objects
in all America. They do not, indeed, pour down that immense flood of water which
renders Niagara so wonderful ; but the height is greater, being 240 feet, and the
stream descends the whole of this vast steep in one white sheet of foam. It is
received into a vast basin, whence arise clouds of vapour that display the most
brilliant tints of the rainbow. M. Bouchette imagines that even Switzerland, though
it contains much loftier falls, has none which descend in so unbroken a mass. He
overlooks, we think, the Staubbach, whose stream, however, is less copious than that
of Montmorenci. In winter, when the falling waters congeal into icicles, these
accumulate above each other, till they, on some occasions, swell to an amazing mag-
nitude, and present a most curious spectacle. About fifty years ago General Haldi-
mand, then governor of Canada, built a house close to the fall, and commanding a
most advantageous view of it. This was afterwards occupied by the Duke of Kent,
and is now the residence of Mr. Paterson, who has erected upon the river an exten-
sive range of saw-mills.

CHAP. III.

EASTERN TOWNSHIPS.

The county of Sherbrooke embraces the greater part of the district of St. Francis,
immediately south of Trois Rivieres, to which it is often considered as attached.
Being quite beyond the range of the Seigniories, it has been divided into twenty-
nine townships, which include much valuable land. It presents in general a broken
and varied surface, sometimes rising into mountains clothed with fine timber, is well
watered, yet not so encumbered with swamps as the more western districts. The
only part hitherto settled is that adjoining to Stanstead in Montreal ; but the British
American Land Company expect soon to diffuse culture over the whole. Orford,

PONT VE SJEEEEBTi.00.ER fTEPJUTOJTtX OJUEKTTLL) J)JE HRjrCfCF. ZZ7 S7TF. R 7V R CiDTCF (0STTTC.EE

. EASTERN TOWNSHIPS.

15

indeed, the first on this side, is so mountainous as to be almost unfit for improvement,
and contains only 320 inhabitants. But the west, Ascot, with 1,800, Compton to the
south, with 2,020, and Eaton to the east, with 1,500, are in general very fine, with
an undulating surface, and commodiously watered by streams well adapted for mills.
The first contains Sherbrooke, the county town, where the commerce of the neigh-
bouring settlements chiefly centres. It contains about 350 inhabitants, with three
places of worship and a woollen manufactory ; and the Land Company have lately
made it the centre of their operations. They have undertaken a new road to Port
St. Francis, whereby the distance will be reduced to seventy miles, and have like-
wise established a stage conveyance between the two places, by which the journey is
performed in one day. They have also improved the roads to Quebec and Montreal,
from each of which it is about 100 miles distant. In Eaton and Compton are rising
villages bearing the same names. South from Eaton, Clifton and Newport, though
hilly, contain much good land ; yet in 1831 their united population was only 188.

The north-western part of the county includes Melbourne, with 1,280 settlers,
and Shipton, on the Nicolet, with 1,900. The two are considered the finest of all
the St. Francis townships, and their population is rapidly increasing. Shipton con-
tains Richmond, a village of some consequence, and another is rapidly rising in
Melbourne. Windsor and Stoke are represented as possessing almost equal
advantages ; yet they have drawn little attention, the former containing only 220
settlers, the latter scarcely any. Brompton, west from these, though uneven and
rocky, has some good tracts, which have drawn 350 inhabitants ; while Duds well,
east of Windsor, which has also a variegated surface, can boast of 342.

The whole south-eastern part of this large county, containing the townships of
Garthby, Strafford, Whitton, Adstock, Marston, Chesham, Emberton, Hampden,
and Bury, with certain portions of Weedon, Singwick, Ditton, Auckland, and
Hereford, composes the great block purchased by the Land Company. -It had not
been previously surveyed, and was occupied only by detached individuals, who had
availed themselves of its neglected situation to squat upon it. Its surface is very
varied. The central part, according to a recent report, appears too mountainous
to invite settlement; but from this height it slopes down in various directions to the
St. Francis, to its tributary the Salmon, and to Lake Megantie. These lower
declivities are richly wooded, and well fitted for a mixed system of corn and pasture
farming. The Salmon river, which traverses in a northerly direction nearly the
whole district, has beautiful and fertile banks, one part of which, about ten miles
long, from its luxuriant verdure is called “ The Meadows.” This river, as well as
numerous little streams which flow into it, is rapid and broken by falls, unfit for
navigation, but convenient for mills. Here the Company have determined to begin
their settlement ; and about half a mile from the principal fall they have founded a

16

CANADIAN SCENERY.

village, named Victoria. During the summer of 1836 several hundred labourers
were employed by them in forming a road between it and Sherbrooke.

The tracts on this side of the river belonging to the district of Quebec, embrace
a great extent of coast ; but the settlements do not extend far into the interior.
The possession of a portion, too, amounting to 6,400,000 acres, is still under
discussion with the United States. This division consists of the counties of Beance,
Belle-chasse, Dorchester, Kamouraska, L’lslet, Lotbiniere, Megantie, and Rimouski,
which contain a population of 87,700. The aspect of the territory, as compared
with the western, is decidedly bold and hilly, though not mountainous, as on the
opposite shore. The land generally stretches in irregular ridges, which, at from ten
to twenty miles inland, swell into a broad table land, that slopes down to the river
St. John. Between these ridges, however, intervene valleys, and even extensive
plains, many of which, from the encouragement afforded by the markets of the
capital, have been brought into very tolerable cultivation. The territory is watered
by numerous rivers, full and rapid, though, from being closely hemmed in by high
land on the south, they have not so long a course as those farther west. The prin-
cipal are the Chaudiere, Du Sud, St. Anne, Ouelle, Green River, Rimouski, Great
Mitis, and Matane. In ascending the St. Lawrence, the views along the valleys
marked out by these streams and the heights by which they are bounded, are singu-
larly grand and picturesque.

The tract watered by the Chaudiere, the largest of these rivers, and comprising
the county of Beance, is hilly and broken, the soil light, and in some places stony,
yet on the whole fertile, and the vicinity of the capital has led to its careful
cultivation. It derives very great advantages also from the Kennebeck road, leading
from Quebec to Boston, and completed in 1830, by which its agricultural produce
is conveyed to a good market, and large supplies of live stock transported. The
fall on the Chaudiere forms one of the most picturesque objects in America. If it
does not equal the grandeur of Niagara and Montmorenci, it possesses features more
interesting than either. The river is here narrowed to the breadth of between 300
and 400 feet, and the height does not exceed 130. It descends, too, not in one
continuous sheet, but is broken by projecting rocks into three channels, which, how-
ever, unite before reaching the basin below. Nothing, therefore, is on the same
great scale as in its two rivals ; yet it surpasses both in the magnificent forests by
which it is overhung, whose dark foliage, varied and contrasted by the white foam
of the cataracts, produces the most striking effects. These are heightened by the
deep and hollow sound of the waters, and the clouds of spray, which, when illumined
by the sun, exhibit the most brilliant variety of prismatic colours. A succession of
rapids for some space upwards displays a continuation of the same bold and beautiful
scenery.

london , SEaKL'shea. for Hie -Proprietors . by Geor’Ertue, 26, hry laue

CHAP. IV.

SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.

The Edinburgh Cabinet Library, in a most valuable paper on emigration, makes
the following remarks and statements, which, being drawn up after evidently most
careful observation and research, are better worthy than anything we could write,
of being recorded in a chapter on this subject. “ Britain can conveniently spare
every season not less than 50,000 or 60,000 of her inhabitants, retaining a sufficient
number for every useful purpose, and with much advantage to those who remain
behind. The adventurers, too, will form on the other side of the Atlantic a great
and flourishing people, imbued with the laws, letters, manners, and all the acquire-
ments which have raised their native country high among nations. A portion even
of our superfluous capital, which sometimes seeks employment in distant and even
chimerical objects, might be very advantageously invested in the culture and improve-
ment of those valuable colonies.

Admitting, however, the national benefits of emigration, it remains a very
important question, what are the individuals or classes to whom it affords advantages
sufficient to compensate for leaving their native land ; and what course they ought
to follow in order to realize these benefits. This is a point on which the reader
may reasonably expect us to throw some additional light ; and we can in truth
assert, that we have considered it as anxiously as if all our own prospects had been
involved in its solution. To arrive at any fixed conclusion, however, has been by

VOL. II.

F

18

CANADIAN SCENERY.

no means easy. The materials are ample, but they are furnished by individuals
usually more or less prepossessed on one side, and in many instances incapable of
expressing their ideas with precision, or even of forming any distinct or decided
opinion on so perplexed a subject. We have endeavoured, however, by carefully
collating opposite statements, by fixing upon ascertained facts and points in which
all parties agree, to draw up for the intending emigrant a reasonable view of what he
may expect to meet with in the settlements beyond the Atlantic.

The individuals who usually migrate into that new region may be divided into
two classes, — those belonging to the labouring order, and those who seek to support
themselves in the middling rank of society. The former go in the view of obtaining
each a spot which he can cultivate with his own hands, subsisting chiefly on its
produce : the latter hope, by the application of skill and capital, and by engaging
the aid of others, to carry on operations on a larger scale, and to draw from their
property a portion of the conveniences and even elegancies of life. The former
comprise the more extensive, and indeed the more important branch of the subject;
but as the latter will lead us to view it under a greater variety of lights, we shall
most conveniently direct our first attention to it.

No one, who has made any observation on the present state of this country, can
have failed to observe the extreme difficulty which the middling classes find to
support their place in society, and particularly to enable their sons to succeed them
in stations of well-remunerated employment. The reduced scale of the army and
navy, and the rigid economy now introduced into all the departments of the govern-
ment, have withdrawn many former sources of income. Manufactures and trade,
even when prosperous, can be carried on with advantage only on a large scale, with
low profits upon an extensive capital. Hence there remain only the learned pro-
fessions, with the officers and clerks employed by banks, insurance companies, and
similar establishments; and in these pursuits, the increase of population and the
number thrown out from other occupations cause an eager competition. This is
increased by the general diffusion of information among the inferior classes, many of
whom, by merit and address, compete successfully for these higher appointments, —
a state of things which may be, on the whole, advantageous, as securing for national
purposes a greater degree of talent ; but it obviously increases the pressure on the
middling ranks already severely felt.

Among the numerous young men, however, thus languishing for want of employ-
ment, there are probably not a few who possess or could command a small capital of
from 500/. to 1000/. and who have the degree of judgment and industry requisite to
superintend the labours of agriculture. It becomes then an interesting question,
whether Canada affords the means of attaining that independence, and earning those
conveniences, which their native country denies to them. On this subject, and every

SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.

19

thing connected with it, a great variety of opinions prevails ; but on comparing all
together, we shall state grounds for concluding that, with a due degree of skill and
perseverance, the emigrant in this rank will find the means, not indeed of rising to
wealth, hut of placing himself in a comfortable and independent situation.

The cultivator in Canada stands in very different circumstances from either the
proprietor or farmer in Britain. He obtains an estate in full and perpetual property
for a smaller sum than the annual rent which he would here be obliged to give for
it. After paying this price, however, he must expend at least three times as much
in clearing and bringing it into a state of cultivation. Even then it will not yield
him rent ; it will be merely a farm for him to cultivate, with the very important
advantage indeed of its being wholly his own, and no landlord to pay. The taxes
also are extremely light, when compared to those which press on the English farmer.
But in return for these benefits, he must give to his servants considerably higher
wages, and will even have no small trouble in procuring them on any terms. What
is worse, he obtains for his produce much lower prices, and even these with difficulty,
because the supply of grain and provisions in a region so wholly agricultural must
more and more exceed the demand within the country itself. These commodities,
indeed, will always find a market among the dense population of Britain, to which
they are now admitted on payment of easy duties ; and in point of fact, the price
must be finally ruled by what they will sell for here. After paying the expense of
transportation across the Atlantic, added to that of conveying them from the place
of production to the ports of Montreal or Quebec, there is little prospect that the
finest wheat of Upper Canada will permanently bring in this country more than 50s.
per quarter. Deducting the duty, 5s. — 'freight, 10s. — carriage from even a favourable
situation in the interior, 8s. — we have only 27s ; or about 3s. 4>d. per bushel left to
the cultivator.

Under these circumstances, it has become a prevailing opinion, and maintained by
many as an indisputable maxim, that a Canadian proprietor cannot cultivate with
advantage by means of hired servants, but must himself perform the full task of a
common labourer. Those only are represented in the way of well-doing who have
constantly in their hands the axe or the plough, whose ladies are seen milking the
cows, churning, and performing the humblest menial offices. We must frankly say
that, if such be the necessary lot of a settler in Canada, we cannot but concur with
Captain Hall in thinking it unfit for the class now in consideration. Can it be
supposed that a young man, accustomed to refined society, should renounce friends
and country, and remove to a remote land, not to improve his condition, but to
reduce himself to the level of a common labourer ? How can he expect a fair
partner, accustomed perhaps to value somewhat too highly the immunities of a
refined society, to share with him so hard and humble a lot? We most readily

20

CANADIAN SCENERY.

admit that the labouring classes have within their reach the best blessings of life,
and are often happier than those called their superiors. Still the desire of exemption
from bodily toil, and of enjoying a portion of the conveniences and elegancies of life,
is natural, and has a salutary effect in stimulating to activity and invention. The
lively author of the “ Backwoods,” a zealous advocate of the working system,
admits the hardship of a young gentleman, employed to “ chop down trees, to pile
brush-heaps, split rails for fences, dressed in a coarse over-garment of hempen cloth
called a logging shirt, and a Yankee straw hat flapped over his eyes.” We cannot
help thinking that this ingenious lady is somewhat too severe on those of her own
sex who, without her internal resources and powers of reflection, could not accom-
modate themselves to the hard and dreary life consequent upon this system. In
short, we may observe, that if land in Canada will pay nothing but the mere manual
labour put upon it, it is fitted only for the peasant settler, and can never afford an
income for a person of better rank. This opinion seems confirmed by the judgment
of the learned lady herself, when, after an experiment of three years, she concludes,
that for a gentleman a small income is almost indispensable, — a good one desirable ;
this last a case not very likely to occur.

Notwithstanding these weighty authorities, we do not hesitate to assert, that
in farming on such a scale as will remunerate a person in the middling rank, his
devoting himself to constant bodily labour is not only unnecessary, but decidedly
injurious. It is admitted, we suppose, that, in our country, upon an extent of 150
to 200 acres, the tasks of planning, arranging, inspecting, and finding a proper
market for the produce, afford very full occupation to a single individual. But in a
Canadian farm, all these occupations are much more arduous and difficult. The
business cannot be reduced into the same fixed routine ; a greater variety of produce,
both in grain and live stock, must be reared ; servants, less steady, and oftener
changed, require much stricter superintendance ; markets are not found without
more difficulty, and at a greater distance. To perform all these functions carefully
and well, on a property of this extent, must, we apprehend, keep the owner’s hands
very full. To attempt to combine with them the daily task of a common labourer,
seems to ensure their being executed in an imperfect and slovenly manner, and
consequently the whole concern greatly mismanaged. The newly-arrived emigrant
is indeed told that the other is the approved mode, and that if he wishes to thrive
in the country he must follow its customs. The fundamental principles of rural
economy, however, cannot be changed by the interposition of the Atlantic. The
original settlers in Upper Canada were mostly of the less opulent class, who could
cultivate their lots only by the labour of their own hands. A few of them, who,
by extraordinary exertion, have risen to some degree of wealth, retain still probably
their primitive habits and maxims, and represent their success as connected with the

davis Atrftui-niiTw.i nr i>sir osTi.icimtr. stadtgfbieten.

SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.

21

hard personal labours which they then underwent. These are held forth as the
models to be followed by the young cultivator. But a general rule cannot be
founded on a few cases where peculiar activity and energy were displayed. With
an average allotment of these qualities, such as we are generally entitled to expect,
the union of the intellectual and directing with the manual and operative depart-
ment, can rarely succeed. We are convinced that a person of competent judgment,
devoting himself wholly to the former, would raise on the same ground a considerably
larger produce than one who, exhausted by daily toil, should follow only in a rough way
the mechanical routine observed among his neighbours. He would thus create a surplus
applicable to his own profits ; and we are convinced that it is only by the exertions
of such a class that any improvement can be expected in the system of Canadian
culture, which is admitted on all hands to be at present exceedingly defective.

In estimating, however, the plans and views of such a settler, several circumstances
must be taken into consideration, and, in particular, the situation of his property.
The Canadian districts are classed under two heads. The first, called The Bush ,
comprehends those situated in the depth of the forest, where towns and markets are
distant, and reached only by roads which are almost impassable. To compensate
the obvious disadvantages of this locality, settlers obtain a greater chance of good
land at a considerably lower rate ; a party of neighbours or friends can cluster
together ; and they have every prospect that sooner or later the communications
will be much improved, that villages will spring up in their vicinity, and their estates
be thereby raised in value. These considerations may justly weigh with certain
classes of emigrants, but for those now under consideration they are far overbalanced
by the disadvantages. In such a position, there is much greater difficulty in
procuring hired labour, while its price must be higher, because the workmen are
not only fewer, but more generally aim at having land of their own. Hence the
expense of clearing ground in the several districts has been stated as differing to the
extent of 21. an acre ; and while the cost of raising the produce has thus been
augmented, its price or money value is greatly diminished. Cash indeed is scarcely
ever seen in the remoter parts. It may at first view seem singular that there should
be abundance of commodities worth money, and yet not able to procure it ; but we
may observe, that gold and silver will purchase any thing in every quarter of the
world, while the products of a landed estate are of value only on the spot: the
merchant, therefore, may give goods produced in the same vicinity, but he cannot
give money. Connected with this want is the impossibility of procuring many of
the elegancies and luxuries of life, portions of which have, by the middling classes,
come to be viewed in the light of necessaries. Mr. Pickering mentions that tea,
when sold at Buffalo, cost 4s., at Port Talbot, 6s. per lb. Salt at the former place
was 9s., at the latter, 1 l. 2s. 6d. a barrel. The settler may have plenty of food and

VOL. II.

G

CANADIAN SCENERY.

homespun cloth, but almost every other commodity will be beyond his reach. These
observations are not indeed to be understood in their utmost rigour, for in every
district a certain amount of money, or at least of foreign articles, may be obtained
in exchange for the surplus produce. The merchant, however, in fixing the value,
makes a large deduction on account of the long and difficult conveyance ; besides, as
he cari’ies on trade on a small scale and without competition, he exacts high profits,
and has the farmer a good deal at his mercy. Commercial transactions in all the
country districts of America are usually carried on by an individual named a store-
keeper, who keeps an assortment of all the commodities likely to be wanted, and
receives in return the produce of the cultivator. This mode of proceeding still
farther supersedes the necessity of employing cash as a medium of exchange.

Compared to the various disadvantages now stated, the gentleman settler, who
must take with him a certain amount of capital, ought not to regard even a consi-
derable difference in the price of the land, because, as already observed, it forms the
smallest part of the outlay requisite for bringing it into a productive state. With
regard to the contingent expectation of a future rise in value, this can only take
place upon the low original price, and therefore can never be of any very great
amount. Besides, along with the general advance of the country, the settled
districts, and those in the vicinity of towns, will acquire also an additional value.
At all events, a rise in the land is of little importance to him, if it ceases to be his,
— an issue to which a long course of heavy expenses and scanty produce is very
likely to lead.

We have thought it the more necessary to dwell upon these considerations, as they
seem to have escaped a large proportion of the opulent settlers recently attracted
towards Canada. Under the influence of vague and speculative hopes, they have
made it their ambition to plunge into the extreme west and the heart of the bush,
and seem to have imagined that the farther they placed themselves beyond every
vestige of culture and civilisation, the greater advantages did they secure. A letter
in 1834 states that almost all the emigrants of capital were hastening to the London
District, a territory perhaps the most decidedly woodland of any in Canada. Settlers
in these wilds encounter peculiar and extreme hardships, being deprived of every
accommodation to which they had been accustomed ; sometimes even in want of
common necessaries, and in danger of starvation. At different times, pork, flour,
or tea are wanting, when the weather cuts off all communication with the shore ;
and the ox-waggon, in travelling thence with supplies, is often so shaken that the
contents are strangely mingled. Rice, sugar, currants, mustard, are jumbled
together ; and the next pudding perhaps proves to be seasoned with pepper, and
even rappee. However, while their money lasts, they can make their way, and
clear a certain portion of land, which yields in plenty the rude necessaries of life.

SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.

23

But they have no means to recruit their exhausted purse, or secure any supply of the
comforts and elegancies to which they had been accustomed. If, in anticipation of
prosperity, they have incurred any extent of pecuniary obligation, their situation
becomes extremely embarrassing, and may issue in the entire loss of their property.

Important, however, as a marketable situation appears, it ought by no means to
be procured by any great sacrifice as to the quality of the land ; for, as Mr. Talbot
justly states, it is vain for a cultivator to be near a market, if he has little or nothing
to carry to it. It has been already mentioned, that after paying the original price,
a much larger sum, nearly equal in every case, must be expended in bringing the
land under cultivation. Thus there is little difference between the cost of good and
bad soil, while the former only, under existing disadvantages, ever can remunerate
the settler. It is a grievous thing, as Mr. Shirreff observes, to incur heavy labour
and expense in clearing a spot, and then find it worth little. The settler, therefore,
who brings with him a certain amount of capital, practises a most wretched economy
when he hesitates to pay such an original price as will secure both a good situation
and good land. If a small sacrifice must be made, it should rather be on the
former. A larger produce will pay for a small addition on the cost of transport, and
time may remedy the one evil, but will never make a bad sale good. Some sacrifice
of this kind may often be necessary ; since, as Mr. Fergusson remarks, on the imme-
diate banks of lakes and rivers it is not unfrequently light and sandy, whence arises
the necessity of going somewhat into the interior in order to find the more valuable
description.

In consequence of the views now stated, it becomes a highly important question
what are the market or cash districts (as they are sometimes called), in contradistinc-
tion to those in the bush. In regard to Canada, the topographical details already
given must throw important lights on the subject; and to these some general obser-
vations shall now be added. The shipping ports of Montreal or Quebec form the
central points, by proximity to which the advantages of all sites in either province
are to be estimated ; and next to this is a location on navigable waters having a
ready communication with them. The banks of the St. Lawrence between these
two cities are occupied to a considerable depth inland by the French seigniories.
Land, however, in the vicinity of Montreal may still be procured, having the
advantages of a ready market; but from this very circumstance it cannot be pur-
chased under a price varying from 10/. to 20/. an acre, a rate beyond the reach of
most emigrants. It may be rented indeed at 10s. or 12s. and Mr. Shirreff is of
opinion that farming may there be carried on with advantage ; but in a country where
land may be obtained in full property at so cheap a rate, the British settler is not
likely to be content with this dependent tenure. His object, therefore, must be
sought somewhat farther in the interior.

24

CANADIAN SCENERY.

The parts of the Eastern and Johnstown districts along the bank of the St. Law-
rence enjoy perhaps the best situation as regards proximity to market of any in
Upper Canada ; and their advantage in this respect will be further improved on the
completion of the canal now in progress for overcoming the obstructions in the
navigation of that river. This tract, however, labours under the very serious draw-
back of being decidedly inferior in soil and climate to the more western territories.
The former deficiency, it is true, will appear from our topographical survey to be by
no means universal, the idea having been in some measure suggested by the rugged
aspect of the immediate banks. Matilda and other districts appear to contain a
considerable extent of fine land yet unoccupied. The climate operates chiefly to
prevent the raising of wheat so fine as to bear the cost of transportation to Europe ;
hut this is of less moment since live stock had begun to be considered the more
profitable branch. On the whole, therefore, we incline to think that settlers of
capital, in their eagerness to push westward and into the bush, have bestowed too
little attention on this portion of territory.

The banks of the Ottawa on both sides as far up as Hull, and including those of
its tributary the Rideau, appear to possess similar advantages. Some demand for
produce is also made by the lumberers who pass to and from the upper tracts on
this river. The soil and climate seem to call for nearly the same observations as
have been made on the two preceding districts.

The shores of Lake Ontario, including a space varying from ten to twenty miles
inland, afford good scope for a settler of moderate capital. This territory, though
not uniformly fertile, contains a large extent of excellent soil with a comparatively
mild climate ; and as the rigorous season is shorter, winter wheat even of fine
quality may be produced. Toronto and Kingston, now considerable towns, present
a ready market, through the medium too of respectable merchants, who are known
to deal on liberal terms. The river Trent and the Rice Lake might perhaps be
viewed as enlarging the sphere of eligible settlement somewhat beyond the limits
now stated ; but we could scarcely recommend to a gentleman to go far beyond Peter-
borough. The vicinity of the city first mentioned, and the goodness of the road
called Gouge-street, may indeed carry the range a little farther in that direction,
though we doubt whether it would be advisable to go to the remoter shores of Lake
Simcoe. Gore district, where it passes Burlington Bay, must, we suspect, be con-
sidered as mere bush.

Beyond Ontario, the shores of Lake Erie, even since the completion of the
Welland Canal, cannot be recommended without some hesitation. The distance
from Montreal becomes great, and as the goods could scarcely be conveyed without
transhipment, the tolls of three canals must be paid. At all events, it is only the
Unds closely adjoining this great lake that appear to afford a profitable site for the

Eastexu Tcrvmshm;!.')

SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.

25

more opulent settlers ; for the interior of the London District, including even the
banks of the Thames, must still, we suspect, be classed with the bush-territory.
Mr. Shirreff found that wheat bore a very lew price there, and that it was moreover
difficult to be procured. The shores of Lake Huron must also he included under the
same description.

It ought, however, to he observed that these limits may be considerably modified
by the great works mentioned in the commercial chapter as being contemplated for
extending the communications of Upper Canada. These, unfortunately, are now at
a stand for want of means ; but if the plans of Lord Durham be carried into effect,
we may hope to see them all accomplished on an augmented scale.

It will be proper to consider under this view the eastern townships of Upper
Canada. Their situation is peculiar, owing to the banks of the St. Lawrence and of
the Richelieu being occupied by the French seigniories, having a tract of inferior
ground in their rear. The townships are thus thrown much inland, and their pro-
ducts can be brought to market only by a land-carriage, varying from 60 to 120
miles. The roads too have hitherto been bad ; but the British American Land
Company have been employed in making a very good one from Port St. Francis to
Sherbrooke, and in improving the others. The evil also is much mitigated by the
circumstance that cattle, which form the main staple of this territory, can convey
themselves to market, and, even if killed, the salted meat contains much more value
in the same bulk than grain. Yet we should hesitate in advising settlers of the more
opulent class to proceed further than Melbourne and Shipton, on the side of Port
St. Francis, or beyond Shefford, if proceeding from Montreal. Here they will
find good land, which, when the promised improvements are completed, will not
be much more than 50 miles from a port on the St. Lawrence.

A young man, who desires to form a judgment how far such a mode of life will
suit him, must be warned not to carry out the ideas of rank and dignity which are
connected with the possession of land in Europe. Here, according to feudal ideas,
not wholly extinct, it was anciently combined with power; and still, from the large
rents paid for its use, it generally confers wealth without labour — the enjoyment of
splendor and luxurious ease. But in America, this species of property has never
implied hereditary influence ; and it yields income, in most instances, only by hard
personal labour, or an active superintendence. The few wealthy men of which it
can boast, have acquired their riches by acting as merchants and storekeepers ; and
these are, on the whole, the persons of greatest consequence in the country. But,
though landed estate does not ensure those factitious distinctions, there are import-
ant advantages of which it can never be divested. It is attended with a degree of
independence seldom enjoyed by the middling classes in Britain; for here, farmers,
with a heavy burden of rent and taxes, which they must make good amid many

VOL. II.

H

26

CANADIAN SCENERY.

uncertainties, are always liable to come under the power of their landlords. Salaried
officers, too, may be exposed to insult, and even the loss of their situations, through
the caprice of employers or superiors ; whereas, a proprietor in the colonies, if he
can draw a subsistence from his lands, and keep clear of debt, is scarcely liable to
any vicissitude. He is removed, indeed, from the society of his friends ; but this,
unless as to occasional visits, is usually the lot of professional men even in our
own country, who must accept employment wherever they can find it. Again, he
can never return to reside in his native land — a privation which, to those who have
spent the best part of their lives abroad, is, in a great degree, imaginary ; and, aided
by the improving means of communication, he is not debarred from the possibility of
seeing his relations at home. In regard to society in Canada, if he has followed the
advice of not going far into the bush, he will find it as good as it is usually met with
in the rural parts of Britain, or even in provincial towns.

The foregoing estimates have been made with the view of ascertaining what
income may be expected from a Canadian farm, after it is cleared and placed under
regular cultivation ; but the momentous question — by what means and resources the
emigrant is to bring it into this condition, still remains to be considered. It must
not be concealed that his task will be arduous ; and if he is to perform it, as is here
supposed, by hired labourers, a certain capital will be requisite. 200 acres of land,
of good quality, and in an eligible situation, cannot be purchased for much less than
200/. He must erect some kind of habitation, though at first a simple one, and
have certain farm-offices, implements, and labouring stock, which will require at
least 100/. He must also have the means of subsistence till he is able to draw it
from his farm ; though this, it is presumed, during his noviciate, will be managed
with the strictest economy. But the hardest part of the task now remains ; for the
dense forest which covers his ground must be cut down before a single blade can
grow upon it. This process, with the addition of fencing and sowing, is averaged at
4 /. an acre, which, with reference to the requisite space of 150 acres, would amount
to 600/. ; the remaining 50 being advantageously allowed to remain in woodland.
It is true that this process may be gradual, and that the increasing produce of the
improved portions will afford means for clearing the remainder ; but as there is also
to be paid out of it the subsistence of the emigrant, the expenses of cultivation, and
the additions necessary to the stock of the enlarged farm, the improvements must be
far advanced before any surplus can be expected.”

COLON, SUlt XA NRONT.TX' RN . BIN TACKTROJP NIT

)

CHAP. V.

SPORTING IN CANADA.

The pursuit of most kinds of game in Canada does not differ sufficiently from that
of other countries to make a description worth our while. That of the bear, how-
ever, is a sort of aboriginal sport, which sometimes involves rough adventures. Mr.
Talbot, in his Travels, gives the following, which seems as perilous as any we can
quote : —

“ One of my father’s settlers, of the name of Howay, discovered the tracks of
three bears on the morning of the 11th December; and, after following them for
about three miles, came to the tree in which they had taken up their quarters.
Having his dog, his gun, and his axe with him, he began to cut down the tree, the
trunk of which was at least 16 feet in circumference. Whilst engaged in this
employment, he occasionally directed his eyes upward, to see if his motions
disturbed the bears in the place of their retreat. He became at length weary of
acting as sentry to the prisoners, and had nearly forgotten this needful precaution,
when, in the midst of his hewing, a large piece of bark struck him on the head.
This aroused his attention, and, on looking again, he discovered, to his great con-
sternation, one of the bears descending the tree in the usual manner, tail foremost.
Apprehensive that he might be attacked by his black friend, which he perceived was
coming down with every appearance of hostility, he laid down his axe, and, taking
up his gun, resolved to discharge its contents into the body of bruin. Upon reflec-

CANADIAN SCENERY.

tion, however, he desisted ; for he was afraid, if he only wounded the animal, his
own life would be the forfeit of his eager temerity. While he was thus deliberating,
his dog perceived the bear, then only a few yards from the ground, and, by his
barking, alarmed the brute so much that he ran up the tree with inconceivable
swiftness. On arriving at the opening into the trunk, he turned himself about, and,
looking down attentively, surveyed the dog and his master. Howay now regretted
that he had not called upon some of his neighbours to assist him ; but being afraid
that if he should then go for any one the party would in the mean time effect their
escape, he rallied his courage, and, resuming his gun, lodged a ball in the bear’s
neck, which fortunately brought him lifeless to the ground. Victory generally
inspires the conqueror with fresh courage, and is seldom the forerunner of caution.
The conduct of - Howay, however, affords an exception to a rule so generally
acknowledged ; for, instead of being elated by his success, and stimulated to pursue
his conquest, he reflected, that, although he had been thus far fortunate, the
favourable issue was to be imputed more to casualty than to any particular exertion of
his own prowess, and concluded, that if he continued to fell the tree, he might in his
turn become the vanquished. He, therefore, very prudently determined to go home
and bring some of his neighbours to his aid. Leaving the bear at the foot of the tree
he departed, and in a short time returned with two men, three dogs, and an additional
axe. They soon succeeded in cutting down the tree, which, when falling, struck
against another, and broke off about the middle, at the identical spot where the
beasts lodged. Stunned and confused, the affrighted animals ran so close to one of
the men, that he actually put the muzzle of his gun close to its shoulder and shot
two balls through its body. The other escaped unhurt ; and the dogs pursued the
wounded one till he compelled them to return with their flesh badly lacerated.

“ By this time the winter sun had ceased to shed his refulgent beams upon that
portion of the globe, and the men deemed it imprudent to follow the tracks until the
succeeding morning ; when Howay, accompanied by a person of the name of
Nowlan, an American by birth, and of course well acquainted with the woods,
followed the tracks, having previously provided themselves with a rifle, an axe, about
six charges of powder and shot, and bread and meat sufficient for their dinner. This
was early in the morning of Thursday, the 12th of December. About two o’clock
in the afternoon they were observed by some persons crossing the river Thames,
nearly seven miles from the place at which they set off. This was the only intel-
ligence we had of them for thirteen days. After they had been absent for some time
their friends concluded that they must either have perished with hunger and cold, or
have been destroyed by the wounded bear. I was strongly of opinion that they had
been frozen to death, for the weather was excessively cold, and they were slightly
clothed, without a tinder-box and totally unprovided with any means of shielding

,mc obj?ohi) JJER ojii'ojw

SPORTING IN CANADA.

29

themselves from the inclemency of the weather. I therefore assembled a large
party of the settlers pertaining to the townships of London and Nassouri, and pro-
posed that we should stock ourselves with provisions for a few days, and go in quest
of the two unfortunate hunters. To this proposal they unanimously agreed ; and
we set off on the following morning, provided with pocket compasses and trumpets,
a good supply of ammunition, and the necessary apparatus for lighting fires, taking
with us some of the best dogs in the country. In the interval between their
departure and ours a partial thaw had taken place, which left not the slightest layer
of snow upon the ground, except in low and swampy situations. We had, therefore,
no tracks for our direction, nor any idea of the course which Howay and Nowlan
had taken, except what we had obtained from the persons who saw them crossing
the Thames on the day of their departure. We had no very sanguine hopes of
finding them ; but continued for two days to explore thousands of acres of intermin-
able forests and desolate swamps, apparently untrodden by human foot, yet without
the most distant prospect of success. We returned home, having given up all
expectation of seeing them again, either living or dead. There was, however, one
consideration which administered a portion of comfort to our anxiety : the objects of
our search were men without families — they were strangers in America. They had
no parents here to mourn over their untimely fate ; no wives to lament the hour
when they first met, or the moment when they last parted ; and no children to
deplore their early orphanage, or to call in vain for their fathers’ return. In fact,
they were mourned by none but unconnected neighbours.

“ Thirteen days had now elapsed since the departure of the two adventurous
settlers, and all hope of their return had completely vanished. On the morning of
Christmas-day, as I was in the act of sending messengers to some of Howay’s most
intimate acquaintance, to request them to take an inventory of his property, I was
informed that he and his companion had returned a few hours before, alive, but in a
most wretched condition. When I had recovered in some measure from my surprise
I went to see them, for I felt anxious to hear from themselves an account of their
extraordinary preservation. Never in my life did I behold such spectacles of woe,
poverty, and distress. Their emaciated countenances, wild and sunken eyes,
withered limbs, and tattered garments, produced such an extraordinary effect upon
my imagination, that I approached them with a degree of timidity for which I was
unable to account. I sat down beside them, and for some time fancied I was
holding converse with the ghosts of departed spirits ; nor could I entirely banish
this idea from my mind during a conversation of several hours. Their preservation
appeared to me as signal an interposition of Providence as any of which I had before
heard ; and, since it may not prove uninteresting to you, who are unacquainted
with the woods and wilds of America, I shall give you a particular account of it.

VOL. II.

i

30

CANADIAN SCENERY.

I consider it the more likely to interest you, because it is none of those second-
hand stories which usually, as they fly from cabin to cabin, increase prodigiously,
until they swell beyond the reasonable bounds of probability, and fearfully invade
those illimitable regions —

1 Where human thought, like human sight,

Fails to pursue their trackless flight.’

“ On the day of their departure, they pursued the bear, which took a north-
western course for at least twenty miles, and at night stopped upon his track.
With great difficulty they lit a fire, having contrived to produce a light by the
application of a piece of dry linen to the pan of their gun whilst flashing it. Thus,
before a good fire, they spent the first night, which was exceedingly cold, both
supperless and sleepless.

“ In the morning they continued the chase, as soon as they had eaten a small
piece of bread, the crumbs or fragments of their dinner on the preceding day. This
was equally divided between themselves and their dog. About noon, when they
had travelled on the track, through all its windings and doublings, for at least
twenty miles, they were unable to distinguish the north from the south, and of
course considered themselves lost in the boundless immensity of interminable forests.
They resolved to pursue the bear no longer, conscious that it would lead them still
further into the wilderness, from whence they apprehended they could not without
difficulty extricate themselves, for the snow was disappearing fast, and the rain con-
tinuing to increase. They now recollected, that, in the early part of the day, they
had crossed over the track of another bear, which they fancied would lead them to
the settlements. This they unwisely resolved to follow, consoling themselves with
the thought, that, if it should not conduct them to the abodes of man, it might lead
them to the bear’s retreat ; and that if they should succeed in killing him in a spot
even remote from any settlement, his flesh would afford them nourishment, and his
skin a more comfortable couch than the snow-covered deserts on which they had
bivouacked the preceding night. Hope, which — though it often bids desponding
thoughts depart, and sometimes cheers us in the darkest hour — is too frequently
the cause of our expecting where expectation is vain, and disappointment ruinous,
had, in the present instance, nearly precipitated its unfortunate votaries into the
vortex of irretrievable misery. They followed on the track, until the snow com-
pletely disappeared, and the sky became so dreadfully overcast, that they were
compelled to relinquish all ideas of hunting, and to think only of escaping from
solitude and starvation. They were by this time on the banks of a small rivulet,
the course of which they resolved to pursue, expecting that it would eventually lead
them to the Thames, into which they calculated, as a matter of undoubted certainty,
it emptied itself. On the banks of this rivulet they passed the second night, but

V Cl k? ^ VC KL: RJi V '

SPORTING IN CANADA.

31

were not able to get any sleep. It rained incessantly, and they suffered much from
their exposed situation, for they were only partially covered with a few strips or
barks. The wolves howled around them, and the tempest “ fiercely blew.” The
trees bent their proud crests even with the ground ; and many, torn up by the roots
through the violence of the wind, fell to rise no more, near the very spot on which
our travellers vainly sought repose.

“ On the third day they continued their journey down the brook, which, growing
wider and wider, inclined them to think it was the head of some extensive river,
and they hoped it would prove to be that of the Thames. The violence of the
storm began to subside about noon, but without any abatement of the cold, or
cessation of the rain, which continued to fall during the whole of the day. A little
before sunset they fired at a partridge, but unfortunately missed it. Three charges
of powder and shot were now all that remained. Still hope, with its sustaining
influence, prevented their hearts from sinking within them, and still did they
expect a speedy termination of their toils and sufferings. But another joyless
night found them waking in all its watches, and another sunless morning saluted
them, — the victims of despair.

“ On the fourth day, they felt excessively hungry and weak ; their thirst also was
insatiable, being compelled every five or six minutes to drink. In the afternoon,
their hunger increased to such a degree, that they could have eaten any thing
except human flesh. Sixty hours had now elapsed without their having tasted
food of any kind, and the appalling idea of suffering by starvation for the first time
obtruded itself. Before the close of the day, however, they succeeded in shooting
a partridge, one-half of which they imprudently ate as their supper, and feasted on
the remainder at breakfast the ensuing morning, — thus fulfilling the scriptural
injunction in a sense in which it was not conveyed, “ Take no thought for the
morrow.” They declared their hunger was no more appeased by eating this bird,
than it would have been, at a more fortunate period of their lives, by swallowing
a cherry ! Little more than one charge of powder was now left ; and this they
resolved to preserve for lighting fires, knowing, as the frost had again set in, that if
they were exposed for a single night to the weather, without the protection of a
fire, they must inevitably perish.

“ The fifth night proved extremely cold, and Nowlan perceived, in the morning,
that his feet were badly frozen. Pitiable as their situation was before this heart-
rending event, it then became still more wretched. This unfortunate man had now
to endure a complication of unprecedented sufferings. To the imperative hankerings
of hunger, which he could not satisfy, a continual thirst, which he could not appease,
a violent fever, which seemed not to abate, and the “ pelting of the pitiless storm,”
from which he had no shelter, there was added a species of torment the most

32

CANADIAN SCENERY.

excruciating that human nature is doomed to suffer. Until this deplorable event,
they had travelled at least fifty miles a day, Walking, or, as they expressed it,
running from before sunrise until after sunset. They were now unable to perform
more than half their accustomed journey, and even that with the utmost difficulty.

“ On the afternoon of the sixth day, the sun appeared for a few moments, and
convinced them that they were not on the banks of the Thames. The knowledge
of this gave them much uneasiness, from a conviction which it impressed on their
minds, that they were on the banks of a river which might lead them to the desolate
and uninhabited shores of Lake Huron or Lake St. Claire. Still they preferred
following its course, hoping to discover some Indian settlement, which they could
have no expectation of finding if they departed from its margin. Immediately after
the sun had disappeared they discovered a boat on the opposite side of the river,
and, a little further down, a canoe. The appearance of these vessels induced them
to think that a new settlement could not be far distant ; but, when they had
travelled several miles further, and had not met with any other traces of inha-
bitants, they concluded that the vessels had been driven down the river by the ice
during the late thaw, and had been stopped at the point where they were first
noticed. They were just about to cut down some timber for the night, when they
observed a stack of ha)r a few perches before them, and on their side of the river.
The hay appeared to have been mowed on the flats, or shallows, where it grows
spontaneously beneath the gloomy shades of the overhanging forest. This circum-
stance, when coupled with their recent discovery of the boat and canoe, convinced
them that they were in the immediate neighbourhood of some settlement. The
hay-stack afforded them a comfortable asylum for the night, and appeared to them
the most enviable bed on which they had ever reclined.

“ On the morning of the seventh day, they rose much refreshed, having enjoyed,
for the first time since they left home, a few hours of sound sleep. They were
confirmed afresh, by the incident of the stack, in their resolution to keep close to
the river, being elated with the idea that it would certainly lead them to some
inhabited place. But their dog, the faithful companion of their dangers and
partaker in their sufferings, was that morning unable to proceed any farther. When
he attempted to follow them, he staggered a few paces, and then fell, but had not
power to rise again. The hunger of the men had by this time increased to such a
degree, that they could have eaten the most loathsome food ; yet they desisted from
killing the dog ; — they left him to die a lingering death rather than imbrue their
hands in the blood of a fellow-sufferer. Scarcely had they proceeded a mile beyond
the hay-stack, when they were intercepted by an impassable swamp, which com-
pelled them to leave the direction of the river. Difficulties seemed to surround
them on every hand, and success appeared to smile on them for a moment but to

SPORTING IN CANADA.

add to their other sufferings the pangs of blighted hope and bitter disappointment.
They were compelled to wander once more into the pathless desert, with very faint
expectations of regaining the river.

“ They walked a considerable distance on the eighth day ; and at four o’clock on
the ninth discerned the tracks of two men and a dog. They now imagined the
long-wished for settlement at hand. With renewed spirit and alacrity, therefore,
they pushed onward, indulging by the way the pleasing reflection, that the issue of
the newly-discovered track would ere long terminate their woes, and bring them to
enjoy once more the unspeakable pleasure of human society. Judge, then, what
must have been their feelings, when, towards evening, they were brought to the
very spot on which they had lain five nights before ! Hope now no longer shed her
delusive rays into their hearts ; and they neither had a thought, nor felt a desire, to
prolong a miserable existence. They sat down, therefore, without making a fire,
and formed a resolution that night to end both their miseries and their lives. The
tears trickled down their haggard cheeks, as they gazed upon each other’s altered
countenance ; and the chief dread which both felt was, that the one should die
before his companion, and leave the survivor to expire unpitied and unseen.
Another reflection added poignancy to their sufferings ; and that was, the idea of
being devoured, after death, by the ravenous monsters of the wilderness. Howay,
however, with some degree of fortitude endeavoured to compose himself, trusting
that, ‘ though, after his skin, wolves should destroy his mortal body, yet in his
flesh should he see God ; whom he should see for himself, and his eyes should
behold, and not another.’ But Nowlan, though sixty-four winters had furrowed his
cheeks, had very little notion of a future state, — his perishable body alone engrossed
his attention. Educated, or rather reared, in this land of impiety and infidelity, his
ideas of the Deity and of his attributes were little calculated to elevate his views
from the miseries of this world to the felicities of another and a better. He had
scarcely ever heard the sound of the gospel, and knew nothing of its offers of mercy.
In this world he had no longer any interest ; and about the eternal concerns of the
next he was wholly ignorant, and seemed utterly unconcerned. How deplorable the
situation of such a being ! Better for him had he never been born ! With bright
and well-founded prospects of a blissful immortality, a man may rejoice in th.e midst
of tribulations, if possible still more acute ; but, without these powerful consolations
in a dying hour, he must sink in despair beneath the accumulated weight of misery
and remorse.

“ After indulging in the gloomiest reflections for nearly an hour, — during which
time they both declared, that if a tree had then been in the act of falhng on them,
they would not have made any exertion to escape from its destructive stroke, — they
began to look upon it as their duty to employ the means which Providence had

VOL. II.

K

8 4

CANADIAN SCENERY.

placed within their reach for the preservation of that life which He who gave
possessed the sole right of taking away ; and they resolved once more to light a fire.
This with the utmost difficulty they accomplished, for they were so much debilitated
as to be scarcely able to exert themselves in collecting a sufficient quantity of fuel.
As they consumed the last grain of their powder in this operation, they became
susceptible but of one emotion, — that of indescribable horror, at the idea of being
compelled, ere another night should elapse, to pay the debt of nature in a manner
the most abhorrent to their feelings. They now conversed freely, but in a melan-
choly strain, on the method in which it was most likely that the frost would accom-
plish their destruction ; and agreed in the opinion, that it would first attack the
extremities of their bodies, and gradually proceed up towards the vitals, until their
hearts’-blood should become congealed to ice. After this discourse they lay down,
almost unmindful of the past and careless about the future, endeavouring to resign
themselves to the fate which awaited them, whatever that might be.

“ On the morning of the ninth day of their deplorable wanderings, they arose in
a state of perfect apathy, and began to traverse the same lands which they had so
reluctantly trodden six days before. In the evening they arrived at the hay-stack,
where they left the dog. They found him still living, but unable to get upon his
feet. He was reduced to a mere skeleton, and appeared to be in the agonies of
death. The desire of life once more took'its seat in their hearts, and they resolved
to seek diligently for some sort of food. Their appetites were now so uncon-
querably ravenous, that they stripped the bark off an elm tree, and devoured large
quantities of its inner rind. Scarcely had they eaten it, however, when they
became exceedingly delirious, and were forced to lie down among the hay, where
they remained until morning in an agony of despair.

By day-light, on the tenth morning, they were much better, and would have
arisen, but, recollecting that they now possessed no materials for lighting a fire,
they resolved to roll themselves up in the hay again, and quietly await the
hour of dissolution, whenever it should arrive. Their resolution had but just
been formed, when they heard the joyful sound of a cow-bell, which seemed
to proceed from the opposite shore of the river. They arose immediately,
and, on looking over the water, perceived to their infinite satisfaction a
log-house recently erected, but yet without any appearance of inhabitants. For
some time they felt inclined to doubt the evidence of their senses, and to con-
sider the log-house as a creature of their disturbed imaginations. They recollected
passing that way before without observing any building ; but, on calling to mind the
circumstance of seeing the boat and the canoe, they were convinced that all was
reality— delightful, heart-cheering reality ! They, therefore, resolved, by some
means or other, to ford the river ; and walking with feeble steps but bounding

SPORTING IN CANALA.

00

hearts along the bank, they soon discovered a crossing place. On arriving at the
opposite shore, they were met by a white man and two Indians, who took them to
the house of one Townsend, with whom they were well acquainted, and from whom
they experienced every mark of attention which their wretched condition required.
The heart of sensibility, if conversant with affliction, may form some estimate
of their feelings at that moment. Every tender emotion, of which the soul of
unlettered man is susceptible, may be supposed to have been in full exercise at that
exhilarating interview. And if a single feeling had then any marked preponderance
over another, it must have been that of gratitude — boundless, unspeakable gratitude,
to the protecting power of an Almighty and gracious Deliverer.

“ A few months previous to this event, Townsend had discovered a salt-spring on
the banks of the river Sauble, and was at this time preparing to commence a manu-
factory of that article at a distance of nearly twenty miles from any human habita-
tion. This embryo salt-manufactory was the building which Howay and Nowlan
discovered after they heard the ringing of the cow-bell. It was a fortunate circum-
stance for them ; for if this spot had been uninhabited, as it was a short time before,
they must unquestionably have breathed their last on the banks of that unexplored
river, which flows into Lake Huron at a point which is nearly 100. miles from any
settlement. They were only thirty miles from the lake when interrupted by the
swamp, in avoiding which they had inadvertently wandered back into the woods ;
and, on discovering their own tracks, returned unconsciously to the place where
they had lain five nights before — a catastrophe, which, at the time, they lamented
as a dire misfortune, but which afterwards, as you have seen, was the cause of their
final deliverance.

“ At Townsend’s house they were fifty miles from home, every yard of which they
had to travel through the wilderness, but not without the aid of a blazed line to
direct them. Nowlan’s feet were by this time in a very bad condition ; and as he
could not procure at that lonely dwelling the materials necessary to prevent mortifi-
cation, which he was apprehensive would very soon take place, he and his com-
panion set off early on the following morning. Mrs. Townsend kindly furnished
them with provisions, and every thing necessary for their journey ; and on the eve
of the thirteenth day after their departure from the Talbot Settlement, they had
once more the happiness of enjoying the comforts of their own firesides. — So much
for the enviable pleasures of the American bear-chase !”

We add to this interesting account a few remarks on bears from a clever writer
on Natural History.

“ There are probably three or four different kinds of bears in North America ;
but neither the grizzly bear, the barren-ground bear, nor the great polar species,
infest the countries with which we are more immediately occupied, although the

36

CANADIAN SCENERY.

last-named occasionally travels as far southward on the coast of Labrador as the fifty-
fifth parallel. However, the black bear ( Ursus niger Americanus) is well known in
Canada, and is found wherever wooded districts occur, northwards to the shores of
the Arctic Sea, southwards as far as Carolina, and westward across the continent to
the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Although this species is the least carnivorous
of its kind, yet Dr. Richardson informs us that its strength and agility, combined
with its great tenacity of life, render an attack upon it very hazardous, and its
pursuit has always been considered by the rude inhabitants of the northern regions
as a matter of the highest importance. They previously propitiate the whole race
of bears by sundry ceremonies, and when an individual is slain they treat it with
the utmost respect, address it as a near relation, and offer it a pipe to smoke. This
veneration has no doubt arisen from their admiration of the skill and pertinacity
with which bruin defends himself, and it is both curious and interesting to observe
how the same feeling is exhibited by various tribes of people, speaking different
languages, and inhabiting separate countries. We know from Regnard that the
chase of the bear is regarded by the Laplanders as among the most solemn actions
of their life ; and Leems tells us that they never address that animal familiarly by its
proper name of Guourhja, but call it “ the old man in the fur cloak,” because it has
the strength of ten men, and the sense of twelve. Bear-dances, in which its move-
ments are imitated, are well known among the recreations of the North American
Indians. Alexander Henry, who travelled in Canada and the adjoining territories
in the years 1760-76, has furnished us with some valuable and curious remarks
regarding the black bear of the New World. While on the banks of Lake Michigan,
in the month of January, he observed the trunk of an enormous pine tree much
torn, as if by the claws of one ascending and descending. He next noticed a large
opening in the upper portion, near which the smaller branches were broken off. It
was agreed that all his retainers should assemble together next morning, to assist in
cutting down the tree, as from the absence of tracks upon the surrounding snow, it
was presumed that a bear had for some time lain concealed within. The tree mea-
sured eighteen feet in circumference. Their axes being very light, they toiled all
day, both men and women, like beavers, till the sun went down, by which time they
had got only about half way through the trunk. They renewed the attack next
morning, and about two in the afternoon the monarch of the wood reeled and fell.
For several minutes after the first crash every thing remained quiescent, and it was
feared their labour had been in vain; but just as Mr. Henry advanced towards the
opening, out came an enormous bear, which he immediately shot. No sooner was
the monster dead than his assailants approached, and all took the head in their
hands, stroking and kissing it repeatedly, begging its pardon a thousand times, call-
ing it their relation and grandmother, and requesting it to lay no blame on them

SPORTING IN CANADA.

37

since it was truly an Englishman who had put it to death. “ If,” adds Mr. Henry,
“ it was I that killed their grandmother, they were not themselves behind hand in
what remained to be performed.” The skin was taken off, and the fat found to be
in several places six inches deep. When divided into two parts it formed a load for
two persons, and the fleshy portions were as much as four men could carry. In all,
the carcass must have exceeded 500 pounds weight. As soon as they had reached the
lodge, the head was adorned with various trinkets, and laid upon a scaffold, with a
large quantity of tobacco near the nose ; and sundry other ceremonies were gone
through in the course of the ensuing morning, after which they made a feast of the
flesh. According to this author it is only the female bear that makes her lodging in
the upper parts of trees, — an instinctive practice, by which her future young are
secured from the attacks of wolves and other carnivorous animals. She brings forth
in the winter season, and remains in her lodge till the cubs have acquired some
strength. The male is said always to lodge in the ground, under the roots of trees.

In the latitude of 65° the winter sleep of the bear continues from the beginning
of October to the first or second week of May ; but on the northern shore of Lake
Huron, the period is shorter by two or three months. In very severe winters,
numbers of them have been observed entering the United States from the northward,
all extremely lean, and accompanied by scarcely any females. Now it is well known
that bears never retire to their winter dens until they have acquired a thick coating
of fat, and that in remote districts they couple in September, when in good con-
dition from feeding on the wild berries, which are at that time mature and abundant.
The females then retire at once to their holes, concealing themselves so carefully
that even “ the lyncean eye of an Indian hunter very rarely detects them but the
males, exhausted by the pursuit of their mates, require ten or twelve days to recover
their lost fat. “ An unusually early winter will, it is evident, operate most severely
on the males, by preventing them from fattening a second time ; hence their migra-
tions at such times to more southerly districts.” It is an error, however, to suppose,
as many do, that the black bears generally abandon the northern districts on the
approach of winter, the quantity of skins, as Dr. Richardson observes, which are
procured during that season in all parts of the fur countries being a sufficient proof
to the contrary. The females bring forth about the beginning of January, and are
supposed to carry for about fifteen or sixteen weeks. The number of cubs varies
from one to five, according to the age of the mother, who begins to bear long before
she has attained her full dimensions.

VOL. II.

L

CHAP. VI.

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA, NIAGARA, THE ST. LAWRENCE, ETC. UPON EMIGRANT

SETTLERS.

The Falls of Niagara impress travellers very differently. Most persons, having
heard of this wonder of the world from their childhood, have aggrandized their
imagination of its appearance in pi'oportion with the growth of their minds, and
visit Niagara, at last, with the expectation of seeing an ocean poured from the
height of the clouds. A very graphic and sketchy account of past impressions
at the Falls is given by a traveller, whose book is less known than it deserves ;
and we quote from him, quite sure that his description will be new to the
reader. “ I first visited these celebrated Falls,” he says, “ in the month of Sep-
tember— a season of the year which, in America, is peculiarly pleasant. The
violent heats have then considerably abated ; the musquito, satiated with human
blood, has given rest to his proboscis ; and man, free from the irritating bite
of innumerable tormenting insects, and from the scorching heat of an almost
insupportable sun, enjoys an agreeable respite, and ranges through the country
in quiet and comfort. Until I arrived within a mile of the Falls, the sky was
perfectly clear, the sun shone with his wonted splendour, and the atmosphere
was remarkably dry and uncommonly lucid. But no sooner had I approached
their immediate vicinity, than a sudden and singular change took place in the whole
aspect of nature. The earth, before parched and immovable, became damp and tre-
mulous ; and the sky, till then unsullied by a single cloud, assumed a frowning,

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

39

dark, and portentous appearance. The atmosphere, previously dry and rarefied,
now presented a dense and humid visage ; and my fancy, unreined by my reason,
transported me into a world essentially different from that in which, a few minutes
before, I 1 lived, and moved, and had my being.’

“ Still, however, I pursued my course, and at length gained the summit of
the craggy hills which flank this noble river. My increased elevation did not
contribute to dissipate the preconceived delusion, and I still felt inclined to doubt
of my own or the world’s identity. Mountains of water, belching forth the
most appalling sounds — globes of foam, boiling with rage — rainbows, embracing
within their numerous and splendid arches a surprising variety of newly-formed
impending clouds — rocks, boldly projecting over the tumultuous abyss — and spray-
covered forests, decorated with pearly drops, now rendered more brilliant than
crystal by the reflected rays of the setting sun, and now blown into feathery
streams by sudden gusts of the impetuous wind ; — these were some of the most
striking features of the gorgeous scenery by which I was surrounded. Long
did I luxuriate in pleasing contemplation, admiring its peculiar grandeur ; and
still did I find myself lingering amidst these stupendous and matchless displays
of creative excellence, until the sun, wearied with shedding his beams on the
transatlantic wilds, had retired, in all his glory, ‘ to rove o’er other lands,
and give to other men the kindest boon of heaven.’

“ For the first time of my life did I regret the shortness of a September day.
But my regret soon ceased ; for ere night had completely drawn her sable mantle
across the objects of my admiration, over which I still lingered, a glorious moon,
enshrouded in golden robes, kindly lent me the aid of her beauteous lustre,
and quickly diffused through every part of the landscape new features of loveli-
ness, giving it a character far more soft and interesting than that with which
proud day had invested it. The stupendous and magnificent machinery of nature,
which had recently bound me in abstraction, was now divested of many of its
peculiar charms. A perfect calm succeeded. The forests appeared sunk in deep
repose. The winds had subsided. The green leaves, no longer agitated by the
breeze, ceased their rustling. Not a cloud floated along the face of heaven.
Every thing around and above seemed to have found

‘ Tir’d nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep.’

All was still, except the wakeful cataracts that roared with their wonted violence,
and disturbed the basin which groaned beneath the undiminished burden. Never
was there a finer contrast than that between the noise of the wrater and the
stillness of the air ; the golden effulgence of the rushing flood, and the impene-
trable shades of the surrounding forests; the blackness of the frightful gulf, down

40

CANADIAN SCENERY.

which the waves, with unabating force, are precipitated in crashing confusion,
and the light and cheering face of the spangled heavens, over which the crescent
moon was sailing with modest pride and conscious dignity.

“ Sick and insensible must be the soul that could behold with indifference an
exhibition so fine, so varied, so replete with all that is calculated to please the
eye, to arouse the mind, and, in a word, to raise the whole man above the vulgar
level of existence, and make him sensible, that while he thus contrasts the pic-
turesque scenei’y of the earth with the inimitable grandeur of the heavens, he is
standing, as it were, in the immediate presence of that Deity wdio 1 measured the
waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span’ —
to whom he is indebted for all he sees, and all he feels — by whose almighty power
and wisdom the rivers had their appointed sources and obtained leave to flow,
and from whose hands the mountains first received their appropriate bulk and
due conformation.

“ I cannot convey to you any idea of the poverty of language that is felt when
one attempts to describe such a combination of grand and uncommon objects,
among which is found every thing essential to constitute the romantic, the ter-
rific, the picturesque, and the sublime. All that is awfully grand here occupies
a prominent station ; and every part is so tastefully arranged as to make the
deepest impression upon beholders, and to proclaim, in language not less loud
than the ‘ music of the spheres,’

The hand that made us is divine.’

“ The country in which Lake Erie lies is elevated nearly 300 feet above that
which surrounds Ontario. The extensive slope, or mountain, as it is called, which
divides the lower country from the upper, is, in many places, nearly perpendi-
cular. It commences on the northern side of Lake Ontario, and runs thence round
its north-western point, until it is intersected by the road which leads from York
to Amherstburgh. It afterwards pursues an eastern direction, and finally embanks
the strait or river of Niagara.

“ Persons who visit the Falls generally stop at an adjacent village — (this account
was written some twelve or fifteen years ago), — consisting of about a dozen houses,
and two very excellent hotels, in which as good accommodation may be found
as in any other part of the country. From the baleony of that which is styled
the ‘ Niagara Falls’ Pavilion,’ there is a very fine view of the Horse-shoe Fall,
and of the island which bisects the river. From the same house there is a diffi-
cult foot-path, which leads down a very steep bank to the edge of the river,
immediately adjoining the place where the Table Rock formerly stood. It must
also be recollected that the river issues from Lake Erie about twenty miles above

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

41

the Falls, and, until it arrives within three miles of them, runs with a smooth
current and an undisturbed surface. The bed of the stream then becomes rocky ;
and the water is so violently agitated by passing down successive rapids, that a
person of the strongest nerves, standing on the shore, cannot without difficulty
refrain from shuddering at the sight.

“ Notwithstanding the rapidity of the current, its violence is displayed only on
each side of the river, the middle remaining sufficiently smooth to admit of boats
passing down to the island that separates the river into two branches, before
the waters are dashed down the precipice which forms the Fall. As the current
approaches this island, it seems to run with redoubled velocity. It is impossible
to conceive any thing equal to the force and swiftness of its progress to the
ledge of rocks, over which it is propelled, till it impetuously tumbles into the
bed of the river beneath, with a noise louder than thunder. When the waters
fall into the deep basin, they rebound into the air in immense spherical figures,
white as snow and sparkling as diamonds. These figures, after rising, and, appa-
rently, remaining stationary for a moment, explode at the top, and emit columns
of spray to an astonishing height. They then subside, and are succeeded by
others, which appear and disappear in the same manner.

“ From that part of the Table Rock which yet remains, and the path to which
I have already described, the spectator commands one of the grandest and most
romantic views in nature. The tremendous rapids above the Falls — Goat Island
in their midst, covered with trees, which seem at every moment about to be
swept away — the Horse-shoe Fall, immediately below Table Rock — Fort Scblosser
Fall, beyond Goat Island, and the frightful gulf beneath, boiling with perpetual
rage, and shooting upwards immense volumes of sparkling foam, smoking with
the apparent intensity of heat, are a few of the great objects which are forced
upon his attention.

“ Another place from which the Falls assume, if possible, a more striking and
awful appearance, is at the bottom of the cataract. The precipice leading to
this spot is descended by means of a ladder, commonly called ‘ the Indian
ladder ’ — a piece of mechanism simply consisting of a cedar -tree, the boughs of
which are lopped off at a sufficient distance from the trunk to make them answer
a'! the purposes of irregular steps. After descending this ladder, the perpendi-
cular height of which is upwards of sixty feet, you proceed along the edge of the
river, which is covered with broken rocks, the wrecks of boats, and other exuvice,
until you arrive at the bottom of the Horse-shoe Fall. From this place visitors
frequently proceed on foot several hundred yards, within a prodigious sheer of
caverned water, which is formed by the overshooting of the cataract. But they
must be men of the firmest nerve who venture on such a daring enterprise ; for

VOL. II.

M

42

CANADIAN SCENERY.

the most undaunted resolution is in danger of being shaken on looking upward
at the impending rock, which continually seems to bend and groan beneath the
rolling flood, to which it serves as a fearful support. From the projecting edge
of this rock, the mass of waters is impelled forward, and leaves a large and
smooth expanse, which reaches from the natural sheet of falling water to the
very base of the gradually undermined mountain. If the atmosphere be dense,
it is still more dangerous to engage in the bold attempt of exploring the stable
foundations of the river ; for people at such times not unfrequently lose the
power of respiration in proceeding far beneath the rocky ceiling. Notwith-
standing this and various other dangers, to which all are equally exposed who
venture to approach the Fall in boats, the fisherman frequently continues there
for hours together, apparently without any apprehension of danger.

“ The whole breadth of the precipice or Falls, including the islands which
intervene, is 1,335 yards. The greatest body of water falls on the Canadian
side of the river ; and on account of the form assumed by the waters before
they are dashed from the top of the rocks, it is designated the Hoi'se-shoe Fall.
It extends from the shore to the intermediate island, a distance of 600 yards.
Fort Schlosser Fall, which is on the American side, presents a sheet of water
350 yards in breadth ; and the Little Fall extends across a ledge of rocks for
upwards of 140 yards. The quantity of water which pours over all three, in every
minute, is estimated at 169,344,000 gallons.

“ Many stories are told of the melancholy fate of persons who at various times
have been carried down the rapids, in attempting to cross the river above ; but
I believe the only well-authenticated anecdote of this kind is that of an Indian,
who, having become intoxicated with liquor, made his canoe fast to a rock, a
few miles above the Falls, and fell asleep. By some unknown accident, the
canoe was loosed from its moorings, and immediately floated down the current.
While the surface of the water continued to be smooth, the slumbers of the
unconscious savage were undisturbed ; but when his frail bark entered on the
rapids, and became agitated by the turbulent eddies, he suddenly awoke. On
perceiving his perilous situation, and recovering a little from his first astonish-
ment, he laid hold upon his paddle, and used the most violent exertions to
escape from the impending destruction. When his repeated failures to avert the
swift course of the vessel had convinced him that all endeavours on his part
would be unavailing, he laid aside his paddle, composedly rolled himself up in
his blanket, and putting the whiskey bottle for the last time to his lips, quietly
lay down, as if all danger were over. In a few moments he and his bark were
precipitated down the Falls; and no one ever saw trace again of the Indian or
his canoe.

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

43

“ In the summer of 1822, a similar accident befel two unfortunate white men.
It appears that, for some time past, a part of Goat Island, which separates the
Falls, has been inhabited, and under cultivation. Some of the residents, who were
on the point of quitting their perilous abode, were engaged in conveying their
movable effects to the Canada shore. The day was exceedingly boisterous, and
the current of the river consequently more violent than usual. Four men, with
two boats, were engaged in taking away the furniture ; and when the first trip had
been accomplished, two of them, being apprehensive of danger from the fury with
which the wind blew in the direction of the stream, resolved to venture no more
until the storm should abate. They communicated this determination to their
companions, who, laughing them to scorn, boasted largely of their own freedom from
fear, and returned to their hazardous employment. But in a few minutes after-
wards, they were carried down the cataract, and dashed to pieces. A day or two
after this event, a table which had been in the same boat, was discovered in
the river at the foot of the Falls, uninjured.

“ The noise of the Falls is said to be heard, on a calm evening, as far as Burlington
Heights, a distance of nearly fifty miles. But when this is true, the wind, which is
an excellent transmitter of sound, must blow exactly in that direction. The waters
make a report which might be heard at a much greater distance, if, instead of falling
into a profound gulf, surrounded on every side with hills of at least 350 feet perpen-
dicular height, which confine the sound, they fell upon a horizontal plain of sufficient
altitude to allow the sound to pass without interruption into the circumjacent
country. As an illustration : — If a stone were let fall from the surface of the earth
into a well 100 feet deep, the noise would not be distinctly heard by a person stand-
ing twenty yards from its mouth ; but if the same stone were dropped from the apex
of a steeple of only half that height, into a cistern of water, the surface of which was
on a level with the earth, the noise, occasioned by its splashing in the water, would
be distinctly heard at above five times the former distance.

“ Previous to the settlement of the country along the banks of the Niagara river,
great numbers of wild beasts, birds, and fishes might be seen dashed to pieces on the
shore near the bottom of the Falls. But since this part of the country has been
thickly settled, scarcely any thing is to be found in the bed of the river below the
Falls, except fishes and a few water fowl, which, on alighting in the rapids, are unable
to take wing again, and are soon hurried down the dreadful abyss.

“ It is generally supposed that the Falls were once as far down as Queenston, and
the supposition seems plausible. The appearance of the banks on each side of the
river affords very strong presumptive evidence in favour of this notion ; and the
fact of the constant recession of the Falls, observed by the people who reside in their
vicinity, is no less confirmatory. That seven miles of lime-stone strata of such great

-14

CANADIAN SCENERY.

depth should be worn away by nothing but water, will appear too preposterous for
belief, by those who have never stooped to the drudgery of calculation ; but if only
the fiftieth part of a barleycorn had been worn away in every hour since the creation,
supposing the Falls to have been then at Queenston, or a little above it, they would
now be within a few perches of their present position. These calculations receive
an air of great plausibility, at least, from the rugged features of the banks between
the Falls and Queenston, which afford numerous and strong indications of the
violence to which the strata have there been subjected.”

The writer from whom the foregoing account of Niagara is quoted, went out with
his father and a few labourers to settle in Canada. His voyage up the St. Lawrence
is very descriptive of the scenery and adventures which fell to the lot of all travellers
on the same errand at that time, and may be useful as well as interesting here. He
says : — “ I embarked at La Chine with my father and his settlers, twenty days after
our arrival in Quebec. On account of the shallows immediately below this village,
goods and passengers intended for a higher destination up the river are conveyed by
land from Montreal. Previous to our leaving La Chine, thirty-one of the settlers,
dreading the expense of transporting their families to the Upper Province, separated
from us and accepted of a settlement at or near Perth, about 140 miles north-west
of Montreal. Owing to the rapidity of the St. Lawrence immediately above Mont-
real, ship navigation terminates at that city. Such is the vehemence of the current
in various places, chat it is totally impossible to ascend the river in vessels of ordinary
construction. Batteaux, or flat-bottomed boats, narrow at bow and stern, and made
of pine boards, have been found much better adapted to the river than any others.
These boats are about forty feet long, and six across the centre, and are navigated
by four men and a pilot. Each boat carries about five tons, and is provided with a
small mast and sails, six setting poles about nine feet long, shod at their lower
extremities with iron, which terminates in a sharp point, and the necessary cooking
apparatus. In these boats, all the merchandise destined for Upper Canada is con-
veyed ; and, fitted out in this style, they depart from La Chine, four or five of them
generally forming one party. They quickly arrive in Lake St. Louis, which is
formed by the junction of the Ottawa, or Grand River, with the St. Lawrence. If
the wind happen to blow favourably when they are passing through this lake, they
haul up their sails until they arrive at the Cascades, which are about thirty miles
from Montreal.

At the Cascades a short canal has been cut, and locks formed by the government,
through which the vessels pass, till they attain the head of these rapids, after which
they proceed without departing from the river till they arrive at the Cedars, where,
by other locks, they ascend the most difficult part of the rapids. The current
between the Cascades and the Cedars is so very impetuous, that the boatmen are

I

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"M CAJSTOT ALT TESSUA JD’TOT LRAPXDE MAW AS SEXTET MIT TIITIl Mi W A TILT XOSX' WASSSSmiS JIUTAV

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

45

obliged to have recourse to their setting-poles, which they fix in the bed of the river,
and thus propel their boats with considerable celerity. These exertions, though
fatiguing in the extreme, they are often obliged to continue for several hours without
intermission, and not unfrequently even their best endeavours in this may prove
abortive. When this is the case, they make a rope fast to the bow of the boat ; and
leaving only the helmsman on board, they plunge into the water and tow her by main
strength up the rapids. This is the manner in which they perform the arduous
passage, which, though only 120 miles, they seldom accomplish in less than ten days.
How the men who are employed in this difficult navigation exist without ruining
their constitutions is a mystery which I am utterly unable to explain. They are
compelled, almost every hour, when actually melting with heat and fainting with
fatigue, to jump into the water, frequently up to their arm-pits, and to remain in it
towing their boats until they are completely chilled. They then have recourse to
the aid of ardent spirits, of which on all occasions they freely partake, and, in a few
minutes, are once more bathed in perspiration. The principal rapids between
Montreal and Prescott are the Cedars and the Cascades already mentioned, the
Coteau du Lac and the Long Sault, the latter of which are about nine miles in
length ; and though they are seldom ascended in less than a day, boats have been
known to descend through their whole length in fifteen minutes.

While about 140 of the settlers took their passage from La Chine in what the
Canadians call Durham boats, my father and his family, with the remainder of the
settlers, embarked in a vessel of the same description. The accommodation which
the boat afforded was so poor, that our situation, during the thirteen days of our
voyage from La Chine to Prescott, was in reality “ below the reach of envy.” To
make room for my mother and the children in the wretched little hole of a cabin, my
brother and I were frequently obliged to sleep on the shore in the open air — the
refreshing zephyrs being our only curtains, and the “ spangled heavens, a shining
frame,” our resplendent canopy. Taverns are undoubtedly found in many parts along
the banks of the river ; but, as the boats do not always stop in the neighbourhood
of these refectories, we seldom had any other method of reposing our weary bodies
than the one to which I have now alluded.

One night in particular, when we felt the air rather too cool for sleeping on the
ground, my brother and I, with three of the settlers, solicited permission of a
Canadian farmer to lie on the floor of his kitchen. This request, though humble
and moderate, was peremptorily refused. We asked for neither bed nor blanket,
meat nor drink, but barely for leave to stretch our fatigued limbs on the uncovered
boards ; yet even this was denied. We were in the act of quietly returning to the
boat, when, on approaching the door of his stable, we found it open, entered, and
had but just discovered some clean straw, upon which we designed to rest our heads

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

for the night, when the owner stalked in, and on recognising us, commanded our
instant departure. We were therefore compelled to decamp and to take our usual
nightly station on the shore. This little incident banished sleep from my eyes ; and
I spent the greater part of the night in the indulgence of the most gloomy reflections.
That fondly beloved Isle of Erin, where the genius of hospitality continually holds
her court, and freely spreads her social influence, again recurred to my memory. I
thought of her humblest sons, generous and humane, sons of benevolence and toil,
whose hard labour just gives what life requires, but gives no more ; yet who, with
the ever ready smile of heart-felt sympathy, are willing to share that hard-earned
little with the weary traveller whom chance directs to their threshold, or necessity
throws upon their bounty.

We were from the 18th of August to the 1st of September in accomplishing this
voyage of only 120 miles. I think I may say, without any danger of hyperbole,
that, during this short period, each of us encountered greater difficulties, endured more
privations, and submitted to stronger proofs of our fortitude, than had been our lot
in all the preceding years of our lives. We were obliged by day, in consequence of
the great weight of our luggage, to assist the sailors in towing the boat up the
rapids, often up to the arm-pits in the water ; and by night to rest our enervated
and shivering limbs on the unhospitable shore of this river of cataracts.

On the ninth day of our amphibious journey my brother and I with several of the
settlers, for the sake of a little variety, left the boat, and walked a few miles along
the shore of the St. Law'rence. As we were entirely unacquainted with the country,
we resolved to keep as close as possible to the bank, which in this part was com-
pletely covered with thick woods. When we had walked about a mile, our progress
was interrupted by a large tract of swampy land, which we found to be totally
impassable. Before we had reached the head of the swamp, and once more gained
the shore, the boat was out of sight. However, we pursued our route along the
bank until night approached, when we perceived a light about two miles down the
river, which we concluded to be that of the boat. This conjecture proved to be
correct. It appeared that, in our hurry to overtake her, we had over-reached the
mark, and got too far a-head. As the night was dark, we whistled, hallooed, and
fired off our guns, hoping to induce them to pull up and take us on board. But all
our efforts proved ineffectual ; we could neither make them hear us, nor understand
our signals. At length one of our party observed a house about half a mile above us ;
— a discovery which afforded no small degree of pleasure. We had walked nearly
ten miles through a dismal forest, over swamps and marshes, and were hungry and
fatigued. A few moments before we had no prospect of discovering even a dry spot
of land on which we might lay ourselves down to rest. Nothing appeared —

'1

IMPRESSIONS OK CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

47

“ But matted woods, where birds forget to sing,

And silent bats in drowsy clusters cling.”

Judge, then, what was our pleasure on beholding a human habitation ; for a human
one it was, though its title to humanity was founded solely on the fact of its being
the abode of man, without the least reference to the gentleness of his nature.

When we entered within the door, and informed the owner of the circumstances
which obliged us to become intruders, and to claim his hospitality, he muttered out
a few words with unfeeling frigidity, the purport of which was that we might lie
upon the floor if we pleased ! It was then about nine o’clock ; and from that hour
until eleven, when they retired to bed, I do not recollect that we had the pleasure
of any further conversation either with our host or his lady. When they withdrew
from the apartment we were left sole monarchs of the kitchen ; but our throne was,
in one respect, like that which the sycophantic courtiers of king Canute urged him
to usurp — it was covered with coarse sand, and presented no very agreeable aspect
as a resting-place to us, who presumed to think that we had done sufficient penance
for our transgressions in this country, by the sufferings which we necessarily
endured in the day during the course of our unfortunate perambulations. It was
some time before we could reconcile ourselves to the idea of tying down on the
rough kitchen floor ; but at length the god of dreams prevailed over all our appre-
hensive sensibilities, and compelled us to resume a recumbent posture. I converted
my hat into a pillow, and my cravat into a cap or turban ; and, after promising my
companions in tribulation a glass of rum in the morning by way of toasting Canadian
hospitality, I fell asleep ; but awoke some time before day-break with sore limbs
and an aching head.

From the perusal of such incidents as these, one would probably form a very low
and indifferent opinion of Canadian hospitality; but justice compels me to add, that
the people who live on the shores of the St. Lawrence have so frequently been
imposed upon, plundered, and otherwise maltreated by various evil-disposed
emigrants in their progress to the Upper Province, that, if we had experienced even
worse treatment than this which I have related, it ought not, under such provoking-
circumstances, to excite much astonishment.

The country on each side of the river, between Prescott and Montreal, is similar
in appearance to that between the latter city and Quebec, with this difference, that
the houses above Montreal are much inferior to those below. For about 60 miles
beyond Montreal almost all the inhabitants are of French extraction, and still speak
the language of their ancestors. They scarcely understand a word of English, and
seem to be of very humble origin. Their habitations are constructed in the style of
cottages ; and though they certainly are not reproachable with any great degree of
taste or elegance in their design, they have a just claim to honourable mention for

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

the compensating attributes of cleanliness and of neatness, if not of refinement, in
the simple decorations of their interiors. The traveller, who may have occasion to
cross their thresholds, will seldom witness the semblance of poverty, or the shadow
of discontent. Since my arrival in the country, I have not beheld a single trace of
anxiety or care in the countenances of the people. In the city, the town, the
village, and the open country, every eye sparkles with contentment, and every
tongue speaks the language of independence. If the maxim of our ethic poet be
correct, that —

“ Reason’s whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,

Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence

I do not wonder at beholding such an invariable picture of enjoyment in the looks
of the Canadians ; for they certainly possess, to a perfection which cannot be
surpassed, every one of those integral elements in the happiness of man which the
poet has thus tersely described. How melancholy the contrast to an Irishman !
How delightfully, yet mournfully exhilarating to a Canadian, if, from a know-
ledge of the unhappy condition of our unfortunate countrymen, he should make the
comparison, and find in it an inducement to bless his happier lot !

The only villages at this time (1820) between Montreal and Prescott are La
Chine and Point Clear ; the latter of which is eighteen miles from Montreal. It
has a church and parsonage-house; contains about 1,000 inhabitants, all of whom
are Roman catholics.

The Village of the Cedars consists of a few houses, inhabited chiefly by mechanics.
Coteau du Lac is equally small, but of more importance as a military post, a fort
having been erected in its immediate vicinity for the protection of the trade upon the
river, and for the purpose of intercepting the passage of an enemy, whether ascend-
ing or descending.

Cornwall, which is dignified with the appellation of a town, is more extensive
than either of the two just mentioned. It is 86 miles from Montreal, and has a
gaol, a court-house, a Roman catholic chapel, and a Presbyterian meeting-house.
In Prescott, which contains about 150 inhabitants, there is a military fort, called
“ Fort Wellington.” At this place ship navigation commences, and continues as
far as Niagara.

We remained two days at Prescott; and, on the 8d of September, we embarked
for York (now Toronto) on board a small schooner, called the Caledonia. We
performed this voyage, which is a distance of 250 miles, in six days.

The St. Lawrence, between Prescott and Kingston, presents an aspect the most
wild and fanciful. The Lake of the Thousand Isles, which is situated between
them, exhibits a delightful combination of the varied scenery of nature. It has all
the features of the placid, the picturesque, and the sublime, with a striking inter-

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

49

mixture of the savage ancl the uncouth. While slowly gliding up the stream the
stranger observes the northern shores thickly settled. The lowly cottage and the
large mansion alternately attract his notice. The bustle and activity of life are
everywhere visible upon the land ; while, upon the lake, all is solemn stillness and
solitude. Hundreds of little islands, assuming every variety of form, and covered
with stunted trees of almost every species, are spread over the watery expanse, and
afford a finished specimen of that peculiar sort of scenery which is produced when
the several principles and causes of vegetation are not consentaneous — when the
seed is planted by the hand of nature in a sterile soil ; and fertilizing rains, morning
dews, and fostering breezes, severally contribute their appointed quota of natural
assistance, but seem to lose much of their accustomed efficacy by having no suitable
objects on which to operate.

The rocky and barren soil of these islands invites not the hand of industry to
redeem them from their unproductiveness ; nor do their unfrequented retreats
discover to the beholder even a solitary wigwam. They are the abode of silence,
and the resting-place of solitude. The contemplative observer cannot view them
without some feelings of regret : while his eve roves with delight over spots of earth
disposed into all imaginary shapes, in which matchless beauty and proofs of skilful
design are apparent in every direction, his judgment detects the fallacy of his sight;
and he laments to find these picturesque creations yielding nothing for supplying the
wants of man but such products as serve to gratify his curious vision. Scarcely can he
restrain the wish, presumptuous though it be, that Providence in its wisdom had
distinguished this portion of the universe by something of greater utility and of more
substantial excellence.

Immediately opposite Prescott, on the shore of the United States, is the town of
Ogdensburg ; and twelve miles higher up, on the Canada shore, stands the delightful
village of Brockville, so called in honour of the late lamented Sir Isaac Brock.
This enchanting little spot unites in its situation every beauty of nature. In front
of it flows the river St. Lawrence, interspersed with numerous islands, variously
formed, and thickly wooded. Behind it is an assemblage of small hills, rising
one above another in “ gay theatric pride and on each side are well-cleared farms,
in an advanced state of cultivation. Every thing combines to render it preeminently
beautiful. The dwellings are of wood, and tastefully painted ; and the court-house,
on an elevated situation at the back of the village, seems, from its superior size, to
be the guardian of the villagers — an idea of my fancy, which I did not venture to
confirm by entering within its doors.

Sixty-seven miles from Prescott, and seventy-nine from Brockville, is the town of
Kingston, built in 1784, and a place of great importance to the British interests in
Canada. It is the naval depot of the Upper Province, and is strongly protected by a

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

fort, called Fort Frederick. In Kingston harbour, which is deep and well-sheltered,
there were at this time several large ships, and one, the St. Lawrence, of 102 guns,
which is said to have cost the enormous sum of 300,000/. Some of these vessels
were constructed in England, and sent to Quebec in frame, whence they were
transported to Kingston, at immense cost, on board of such boats as have been
already described. The carriage of the Psyche frigate alone, from Quebec to King-
ston, is said to have cost 12,000/. What could induce government to build ships in
England, where timber is so deal', for the service of Canada ? The policy of this
“ sending of coals to Newcastle” is a mystery which could not be solved by the best
informed men in the Canadas. A sufficient number of mechanics to construct every
ship necessary for the lake-service, might have been sent out for one-fourth of the
expense incurred by the bare transportation of a single frigate from Quebec to
Kingston.

Lake Ontario, to which Kingston serves as a kind of entrance, is in length 171
miles, in breadth 59, and in circumference 467. The depth of the water varies very
n-iuch, but is seldom less than three, or more than 50 fathoms, although, in the
centre of the lake, soundings have been made with a line of 350 fathoms without
finding a bottom. It is often visited with violent storms, which render its naviga-
tion peculiarly dangerous ; and though none except experienced seamen ought to
be entrusted with the management of the craft which sail upon its wide and
deceitful bosom, yet many have obtained the command of vessels who were utterly
ignorant of the science of navigation.

The waters of this lake, as well as those of Lakes Erie, Huron, and Superior, rise to
an unusual height in every thirty-five years. In 1816, Ontario was seven feet higher
than it is known to have been for upwards of thirty years before that time. Does not
this form a very interesting subject for the speculations of the natural philosopher ?
While the waters of these lakes never rise or fall more than eight or ten inches
above or below their usual height, excepting at these stated periods, what cause
can be assigned for the production of such a body of water as is sufficient to effect
this extraordinary change ?

Between Kingston and York there are two or three very small villages, the largest
of which is Belleville, containing at present about 150 inhabitants.

York (Toronto) is the seat of government for Upper Canada, and is situated on
the north side of Lake Ontario. Its harbour, which is a very extensive one, is
formed by a long narrow peninsula, commonly called Gibraltar Point. Though it
is the capital of an extensive colony, it would, as it stands at this time, be con-
sidered in Europe but a village. Its defenceless situation, which cannot be much
improved, renders it of little importance in time of war. It was captured by the
Americans on the 27 th of April, 1813. They had not, however, held possession of

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

51

it many days when they evacuated it, having first destroyed all the public
buildings.

The garrison is about a mile west of the town, and consists of a barrack for the
troops, a residence for the commanding officer, a battery and two blockhouses,
which are intended for the protection of the harbour. In the year 1793 there was
only one wigwam on the present site of the town. It now contains 1,336 inhabi-
tants, and about 250 houses, many of which exhibit a very neat appearance. The
parliament-house, erected lately, is a large and convenient brick building, finished
off in the plainest possible manner. The house in which the Lieut.-Governor
resides is built of wood, and though by no means contemptible, is much inferior to
some private houses in the town. Many of the law and government officers have
very elegant seats in and about the town ; and, with few exceptions, they are built
of wood, and assume a most inviting aspect.

The streets of the capital are regularly laid out, intersecting each other at right
angles. Only one of them, however, is yet completely built ; and, in wret weather,
the unfinished streets are, if possible, muddier and dirtier than those of Kingston.
The situation of the town is very unhealthy, for it stands on a piece of low marshy
land, which is better calculated for a frog-pond, or beaver meadow, than for the
residence of human beings. The inhabitants are, on this account, much subject,
particularly in spring and autumn, to agues and intermittent fevers ; and, probably,
five-sevenths of the people are annually afflicted with these complaints. He who
first fixed upon this spot as the site of the capital of Upper Canada, whatever predi-
lection he may have had for the roaring of frogs, or for the effluvia arising from
stagnated waters and putrid vegetables, can certainly have had no very great regard
for preserving the lives of his Majesty’s subjects. The town possesses one great
advantage, however, which is that of a good though defenceless harbour.

When we arrived at York, my father waited on the Lieut.-Governor, and
handed him the order for land which we had received from Earl Bathurst. His
Excellency told him that he might select his land from any township in the Pro-
vince at that time open for location ; but assured him, that as he himself had been
only a short time in the country, it was out of his power to recommend any parti-
cular division to his notice. He then referred my father to the Surveyor-General,
and also gave him a letter of introduction to that officer, directing him to afford us
such information as might be required. We called upon the Surveyor-General
accordingly, but obtained very little satisfactory intelligence.

A short time afterwards, my father met with Col. Thomas Talbot, who came to
Canada about thirty years before, an officer, if I mistake not, in the fifth regiment
of foot. During the period of his being stationed here, he became so much attached
to the woods and wilds, that, on his return home, he felt half dissatisfied with his native

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

country. He, therefore, sold his commission, and obtained a grant of 100,000 acres
of land, under the condition that he should place a settler upon every 200 acres.
He selected an extensive tract on the northern borders of Lake Erie, about 150
miles S.W. of Toronto. In the year 1802, when there was not a single Christian
habitation within forty miles of his own estate, the Colonel commenced a settlement
under the most discouraging and inauspicious circumstances imaginable. He called
his domain Port Talbot, and, in eight or ten years, saw a thriving settlement
gradually rise up around him. But lie has not yet been able to fulfil his engage-
ment with the government ; nor is it likely that he will, if he continue to estimate
his land at its present price — three dollars per acre for 150 acres, and 50 acres
gratis.

The Colonel is one of the most eccentric characters on the whole continent. He
not only lives a life of cheerless celibacy, but enjoys no human society whatever.
So great was his aversion to the fair sex, that, for many years after his arrival at Port
Talbot, he refused to hire a female servant, but milked his own cows, made his own
butter, and performed every other function of kitchen-maid, house-maid, cook, and
dairy-woman. Is it not rather strange that a British officer, of such high rank in
the army, and respectable connexions in civil life, should be induced to settle in the
pathless wilderness, where he is totally excluded from society, unless he should
associate with a class of people whom he considers entirely beneath him, and with
whom he has never yet in any respect confederated ? Being a member of the legis-
lative council of Upper Canada, he goes to York once or twice in the year. These
visits, and an occasional one to England, at intervals of five or six years, serve to
rub off the rust contracted in his lonely cottage, and to remind him that the world
is still as merry as it was when he figured in its gayest circles.

From the Colonel’s extensive knowledge of the country, my father considered him
to be well qualified for giving advice with respect to the choice of a settlement. He,
therefore, made him acquainted with our circumstances and want of information.
The Colonel mentioned several settlements as eligible, but particularly recommended
the township of London, a tract of land surveyed many years ago by order of
General Simcoe, the first Lieut.-General of Upper Canada. It was, therefore,
agreed that we should immediately proceed to London ; and, on the 11th of Sep-
tember, our whole party set off for Niagara on board the same schooner that
brought us from Prescott.

Weary of travelling by water, I separated from the party at York, and proceeded
by land to Port Talbot, where I agreed to join them. The road from York to Port
Talbot, for the first fifty miles, runs nearly in a south-west course, through a thickly
settled country, the soil of which is light and sandy, and therefore not susceptible of
any great improvement. Several small rivers, whose banks are very high, and

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

53

nearly perpendicular, intersect this part of the country, and render travelling an
undertaking of difficult and dangerous performance. Horses, in ascending and
descending these steep banks, frequently fall, and are sometimes dashed to pieces,
in spite of the best exertions of their drivers. From the head of Lake Ontario to
the Grand River Ouse, the river takes a western direction, and thence to the town-
ship of Woodhouse its inclination is southern, but from Woodhouse to Port Talbot
it preserves a south-western course.

On the banks of the Grand River Ouse, twenty-one miles from Dundas, I passed
through several villages inhabited by the Six Nations of Indians. These villages, which,
from their proximity to each other, appear to be comprised in one settlement, are
composed of about 200 houses, which contain nearly 1,500 inhabitants. The land
upon which they reside is some of the most fertile in the whole province. It was
given to the Indians of the Five Nations, who have since admitted another nation to
participate in all their rights and immunities, immediately after the revolutionary
war, as a compensation for lands which they had forfeited in the United States by
their adherence to Great Britain. Six miles on each side of the river, from its
source to its mouth, originally composed this grant ; but they have since sold
several townships to different individuals. Still, however, they retain a quantity of
land sufficient, under proper cultivation, for the maintenance of half a million of
people. In one of the Indian villages a neat church has been erected at the expense
of government. It is greatly superior in workmanship, as well as in size, to many
of the parish churches in Great Britain. The pulpit is situated at the upper
extremity of the aisle, and is surmounted with the royal arms of England, executed
in bas-relief.

A clergyman of the Established Church occasionally performs divine service
in the church; and when he is absent, his place in the pulpit is supplied by
an Indian, whom his countrymen dignify with the title of “ Dr. John.” This
worthy divine, in the absence of the English clergyman, affords his brethren a
specimen of his oratorical abilities; but it is very evident that the gospel has not
yet obtained much influence in the hearts of these Indians, or in that of the native
preacher. It cannot, therefore, be supposed to exercise any great control over their
conduct.

As I happened to be at this village on the sabbath, and felt curious to see
uncivilised men engaged in the worship of the Deity, I called upon Dr. John, and
requested to know if there would be any service in the forenoon. He had little the
appearance of a minister of that gospel, the principle of which is — “ Peace upon
earth, and good will towards men,” for he was busily engaged in whetting a tomahawk,
and replied to my question with the utmost indifference : “ I meant,” said he, “ to
have had a meeting to-day, but I lost my spectacles in a frolic last night, and cannot,

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

therefore, preach again till Mr. Smith (a neighbouring shopkeeper) gets his goods
from Montreal.”

After crossing the Grand River, the road for many miles has a very delightful
aspect. On each side of the road, extensive plains, thinly planted, apparently, by
the hand of man, spread further than the eye can reach, and afford a pleasant con-
trast to the sombre gloom which hangs, like the shadow of darkness, over the greater
part of this extensive continent. These plains are almost wholly uninhabited,
although possessed of many superior advantages. But the want of timber and water
for domestic purposes, and the inferiority of the soil, which is light and sandy,
render them of little comparative value. To the traveller alone, wearied with his
wanderings through interminable forests, these beautiful plantations and flower-
covered fields afford an exhilarating prospect. Towards Long Point, in the neigh-
bourhood of which there are also similar extensive plains, the country on each side
of the road is tolerably well settled ; but the houses of public entertainment afford
the most wretched accommodations, and exhibit an appearance, both inside and out,
which by no means induces one to form a favourable opinion of Canadian
hostelries.

I reached Port Talbot on the 15th of September, and found that my friends had
not arrived. As I was sitting a while after in a tavern contiguous to the river, and
I expected to have met with my father and his family, a lady and gentleman rode
up to the door. When the lady entered, I handed her a seat. The gentleman
next appeared, and, on seating himself, inquired, as is customary in the country,
whether I was travelling east or west. I told him that I had already explored as
much of the western country as I then intended ; and added, that, during the last
four months, I had travelled from within seven degrees of the Observatory at
Greenwich, and that it was not my design to go farther into the country until
I had seen my friends, whom I daily expected from the east, safely and com-
fortably settled a few miles farther to the northward. This topographical reply a
little surprised them, for it was too general, and did not descend to such minutice as
is usually expected.

The lady, who appeared a good deal embarrassed, or rather in a state of mental
anxiety, said, with much apparent concern, “ Alas, Sir, I fear your friends in
America are few, and your hope of seeing them comfortably settled, like most
worldly hopes, vain and unfeasible.” I conjured her to explain herself; and,
after some hesitation, she reluctantly complied, for her exclamation had undoubtedly
been involuntary : — “ You are not altogether friendless ! You have at least
one brother ! I saw him a few hours ago, in health, but unhappy. He is
travelling in this direction, and will be with you in a few hours.” With this
expression on her lips, she rose from her seat, and retired hastily to an adjoining

«

IMPRESSIONS OE CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

55

apartment, where, addressing the landlady, she continued — “ About eight o’clock
this morning we overtook a number of young men, all Europeans, among whom was
a gentleman, evidently the brother of this young man. They are the only surviving
passengers of a large party belonging to the Fort Erie schooner, which was wrecked
a few nights ago on the United States’ shore.” I heard this with undefinable
emotions, and, rushing into the apartment, in which the lady was still conversing
with the hostess, entreated her to tell me all she knew of the melancholy catastrophe.
She said, “ About three o’clock on the evening of the 19th of September, I saw
your friends embark at Fort Erie for Port Talbot, on board a large schooner ; and
from the great number of passengers who embarked, and the indifferent quality of
the vessel, the people of Fort Erie entertained serious apprehensions for the safety
of the travellers — the weather being very boisterous, and the captain of the schooner
an inefficient and inexperienced man. In a few days afterwards news arrived at
Fort Erie that the vessel had been wrecked on the morning of the 21st, on the shore
of the United States ; and that the few young men who survived were taken up by
a New York schooner, and landed in Canada.”

On hearing this awful intelligence, I immediately set off to meet my brother and
his companions. Before I had proceeded more than half a dozen miles I met the
whole party; and judged from their countenances that the information I had
received was not exactly correct. I told them what I had heard, and desired to
know whether or not I had been misinformed. My brother replied, that my
information was in the main correct ; that they had indeed been shipwrecked, but
that no lives had been lost, except that of a Mrs. Lewis, who had died in consequence
of severe cold and fatigue. I was also further given to understand that my father
and his family were all well and safe, and in the United States, waiting only a vessel
to bring them over to the shores of Canada. It is impossible to describe the sudden
transition of my feelings on hearing these joyful tidings. A few moments before
I had the strongest grounds for believing that my nearest relations were lodged in a
cold and watery grave; but now I could indulge in the joyful anticipation of
meeting them once more, restored, as it were, to life. In about a fortnight after
this they all arrived at Port Talbot, after having experienced much kindness from
the inhabitants of the State of New York during their continuance among them.

In the latter part of October, my father removed his family from Port Talbot to
Westminster, where he procured lodgings for them until a house was erected on his
own lands. The township of Westminster is separated from that of Port Talbot
only by the river Thames. London is situated about 24> miles north of Lake Erie.
On the 1st of November, 1818, it was entirely unsettled, and its surface studded
with the various trees which are to be found in Canada. The land is considered, if
not superior to every township hitherto opened for location, at least inferior to none

56

CANADIAN SCENERY.

in the whole province. The township forms a square, and is divided into 16 con-
cessions, in each of which are 6,400 acres. These concessions are subdivided into
lots of 200 acres, of which there are 32 in each. Between every two concessions
there are 66 feet set apart for roads, which are called concession lines. These,
together with seven side roads of equal width, which intersect them at right angles,
and are equi-distant from each other, comprise all the public roads in a township.

On the 26th of October, my brother and I, with six men carrying provisions
and felling-axes, took our departure from W estminster ; and, having hired a guide,
proceeded into London, to fix upon the most desirable lot for the erection of a house.
1,200 acres were assigned to my father for his own demesne, if I may so call it.
We had, therefore, a large tract of land to explore before we could decide on the
most eligible site. After spending the greater part of the day in approving and dis-
approving of particular lots, we unanimously determined on making the second lot
in the sixth concession the future asylum of our exiled family.

When we had agreed on this point, our next consideration was to procure shelter
for the night; for we were upwards of nine miles from the abodes of civilised beings,
and in the midst of desolate wilds, —

“ Where beasts with men divided empire claim,

And the brown Indian marks with murd’rous aim.”

After walking about for some time in quest of a suitable place for making a fire, we
discovered an old Indian wigwam, deserted by its inhabitants. In this little hut we
resolved to continue during the night ; and, having a tinder-box, with all the other
necessary materials, we speedily lighted an excellent fire. After we had taken
supper on the trunk of a tree, we lay down to rest, each rolling himself up in a
blanket, and each in his turn supplying fuel to the fire. Thus did we pass the first
night on our American estate.

In the morning, about sun-rise, we were suddenly awakened by the howling of a
pack of wolves, which were in full cry after an unfortunate deer. The howl of these
ferocious animals so nearly resembles the cry of fox-dogs, that, when I awoke and
heard it, I fancied myself in the midst of the sporting woods of Erin. But the
delusion was not of long continuance, for I speedily discovered, that, instead of being
in my native land, —

“ Where the tints of the earth, and the hue of the sky,

In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,”

I was in the midst of a dreary and monotonous wilderness.

To increase our consternation, or, at least, to direct it into another channel, the
horses, which we brought with us to carry our bed-clothes and provisions, had

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

57

broken from their tethers during the night, and consumed every ounce of
our bread ! —

“ Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise in arms,

Except when fast approaching danger warns.”

And yet I was on this occasion sufficiently provoked to revenge our loss on the sides
of the ill-natured brutes. We had brought our provender, with the utmost diffi-
culty, a distance of nearly twelve miles through woods and swamps ; and then to be
deprived of it in this way, was too much for a man of the firmest philosophy to bear
without impatience. We should have been under the disagreeable necessity of dis-
pensing with our breakfast, if we had not had the consideration to bring some
potatoes with us, which, happily, under the circumstances, are not so well suited to
the appetite of an American horse as they are to the palate of an Irishman.

We continued encamped in the woods from the 26th of October until the 1st of
December. During this period, we laid the foundation of a house 46 feet long, and
21 feet wide ; one half of which we finished first, for the accommodation of the
family, who removed into it on the 2d of December — five months and nineteen
days after our embarkation for America. During the thirty-five days which we spent
in the woods, previous to the arrival of the family, our only lodging was the miserable
wigwam, which had a hundred holes in its roof, through which, when lying awake
at night, we could easily note every remarkable star that passed the meridian. Our
only bed was composed of withered leaves, while

“ A log contriv’d a double debt to pay — ■

By night a pillow, and a seat by day.”

These are only slight specimens of the hardships which must be encountered by
those who settle in a wilderness ; and yet, no small degree of fortitude is requisite
to support the mind of him who is obliged to submit to them. It is a grievance of
no inconsiderable magnitude to be compelled, after a day of severe labour, to stretch
one’s weary limbs on the bare ground in the cold month of November, and to be
protected from the fierce north wind, and from the chilling frost, only by a miserable
hut, with a fire sufficiently near it to counteract, in some degree, their benumbing
effects.

But the hope of independence is sufficient to sustain the mind under privations
still greater than these ; and he who can bring himself to think, when lying down
to rest on the bare earth, that the day is not far distant when he may happily repose
on a more inviting couch, without one anxious thought respecting the future
prospects of himself and his family, regards these transient sufferings with a kind of
feeling nearly allied to actual pleasure. He sees the time fast approaching when
the wilderness to him shall be ‘ a fruitful field, and the desert shall blossom as the
rose when the productive soil shall gratefully yield an ample reward to his toils ;

VOL. II.

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

and when the hardships of his situation shall, by the blessing of Heaven on his
exertions, gradually disappear, and leave him in possession of health, plenty, and
independence. While indulging in such joyful and ecstatic visions, the wooden
pillow of a new and industrious settler becomes softer than bolsters of down, and his
solitary blanket feels more comfortable than sheets of Holland.”

We have presented the views of almost every class of observers on this interesting
country ; but there yet remains unquoted an observer of the difficulties, toils, and
trials to which woman is subjected in Canada; and from her admirable, graphic, and
womanly record we make large extracts. The book is the “ Backwoods of Canada,”
and the authoress the wife of an emigrant officer.

“ It is now settled that we abide here till after the government sale has taken

place. We are, then, to remain with and his family till we have got a few

acres chopped, and a log-house put up on our own land. Having determined to
go at once into the bush, on account of our military grant, which we have been so

fortunate as to draw in the neighbourhood of S , we have fully made up our

minds to enter at once, and cheerfully, on the privations and inconveniences attending
such a situation, as there is no choice between relinquishing that great advantage
and doing our settlement duties. We shall not be worse off than others who have
gone before us to the unsettled townships, many of whom, naval and military officers
with their families, have had to struggle with considerable difficulties, but who are
now beginning to feel the advantages arising from their exertions.

In addition to the land he is entitled to as an officer in the British service, my
husband is in treaty for the purchase of an eligible lot by Small Lakes. This will
give us a water frontage, and a further inducement to bring us within a little

distance of S ; so that we shall not be quite so lonely as if we had gone on to

our government lot at once.

We have experienced some attention and hospitality from several of the
residents at Peterborough. There is a very genteel society, chiefly composed of
officers and their families, besides the professional men and storekeepers. Many of
the latter are persons of respectable family and good education. Though a store
is, in fact, nothing better than what we should call in the country towns at
home a “ general shop," yet the storekeeper in Canada holds a very different rank
from the storekeeper of the English village. The storekeepers are the merchants
and bankers of the places in which they reside. Almost all money matters are
transacted by them ; and they are often men of landed property and consequence,
not unfrequently filling the situations of magistrates, commissioners, and even
members of the provincial parliament.

As they maintain a rank in society which entitles them to equality with the

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

59

aristocracy of the country, you must not be surprised when I tell you that it is no
uncommon circumstance to see the sons of naval and military officers and clergymen
standing behind a counter, or wielding an axe in the woods with their fathers’
choppers ; nor do they lose their grade in society by such employment. After all,
it is education and manners that must distinguish the gentleman in this country,
seeing that the labouring man, if he is diligent and industrious, may soon become
his equal in point of worldly possessions. The ignorant man, let him be ever so
wealthy, can never be equal to the man of education. It is the mind that forms the
distinction between the classes in this country. “ Knowledge is power !”

We had heard so much of the odious manners of the Yankees in this country,
that I was rather agreeably surprised by the few specimens of native Americans
that I have seen. They were, for the most part, polite, well-behaved people. The
only peculiarities I observed in them were a certain nasal twang in speaking, and
some few odd phrases ; but these were only used by the lower class, who “guess,”
and “ calculate,” a little more than we do. One of their most remarkable terms is
to “ Fix” Whatever work requires to be done, it must be fixed . “ Fix the room,”
is, set it in order. “ Fix the table,” — “ Fix the fire,” — says the mistress to her
servants ; and the things are fixed accordingly.

I was amused one day by hearing a woman tell her husband the chimney
wanted fixing. I thought it seemed secure enough, and was a little surprised when
the man got a rope and a few cedar boughs, with which he dislodged an accumula-
tion of soot that caused the fire to smoke. The chimney being fixed, all went right
again. This odd term is not confined to the lower orders alone ; it becomes a
standard word even among the later emigrants from our country.

With the exception of some few remarkable expressions, and an attempt at
introducing fine words in their every-day conversation, the lower orders of Yankees
have a decided advantage over our English peasantry in the use of grammatical
language ; they speak better English than you will hear from persons of the same
class in any part of England, Ireland, or Scotland — a fact that we should be unwill-
ing, I suppose, to allow at home.

If I were asked, what appeared to me the most striking feature in the manners
of the Americans that I had met with, I should say it was coldness, approaching to
apathy. I do not at all imagine them to be deficient in feeling or real sensibility,
but they do not suffer their emotion to be seen. They are less profuse in their
expressions of welcome and kindness than we are, though probably quite as sincere.
No one doubts their hospitality ; but, after all, one likes to see the hearty shake of
the hand, and hear the cordial word that makes one feel oneself welcome.

Persons who come to this country are very apt to confound the old settlers
from Britain with the native Americans ; and when they meet with people of rude,

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

offensive manners, using certain Yankee words in their conversation, and making a
display of independence, not exactly suitable to their own aristocratical notions, they
immediately suppose they must he genuine Yankees, while they are, in fact, only
imitators ; and you well know the fact, that a bad imitation is always worse than
the original.

You would be surprised to see how soon the new comers fall into this disagree-
able manner and affectation of equality, especially the inferior class of Irish and
Scotch; the English less so. We were rather entertained by the behaviour of a
young Scotchman, the engineer of the steamer, on my husband addressing him with
regard to the management of the engine. His manners were surly, and almost
insolent. He scrupulously avoided the least approach to courtesy or outward
respect ; nay, he even went so far as to seat himself on the bench close beside me,
and observed, that, among the many advantages this country offered to settlers like
him, he did not reckon it the least of them, that he was not obliged to take off his
hat when he spoke to people, (meaning persons of our degree,) or address them by
any other title than their name ; besides, he could go and take his seat beside any
gentleman, or lady either, and think himself to the full as good as them.

“ Very likely,” I replied, hardly able to refrain from laughing at this sally ; “ but
I doubt you greatly overrate the advantage of such privileges, for you cannot oblige
the lady or gentleman to entertain the same opinion of your qualifications, or to
remain seated beside you, unless it pleases them to do so.” With these words I
rose up and left the independent gentleman, evidently a little confounded at the
manoeuvre : however, he soon recovered his self-possession, and continued swinging
the axe he held in his hand, and said, “ It is no crime, I guess, being horn a
poor man.”

“ None in the world,” replied my husband ; “ a man’s birth is not of his own
choosing. A man can no more help being born poor than rich ; neither is it the
fault of a gentleman being horn of parents who occupy a higher station in society
than his neighbour. I hope you will allow this ?”

The Scotchman was obliged to yield a reluctant affirmative to the latter position,
but concluded with again repeating his satisfaction at not being obliged in this
country to take off his hat, or speak with respect to gentlemen, as they styled
themselves.

“ No one, my friend, could have obliged you to be well-mannered at home any
more than in Canada. Surely you could have kept your hat on your head, if you
had been so disposed ; no gentleman would have knocked it off, I am sure. As to
the boasted advantage of rude manners in Canada, I should think something of it, if
it benefited you in the least, or put one extra dollar in your pocket ; but I have
my doubts if it has that profitable effect.”

-

'iiufG-TOir, sun ze lac ojsttaric. (jfizets

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

61

“ There is a comfort, I guess, in considering oneself equal to a gentleman.”

“ Particularly if you could induce the gentleman to think the same.” This was a
point that seemed rather to disconcert our candidate for equality, who commenced
whistling and kicking his heels with redoubled energy.

“ Now,” said his tormentor, “you have explained your notions of Canadian inde-
pendence, be so good as to explain the machinery of your engine, with which you
seem very well acquainted.”

The man eyed my husband for a minute, half sulking, half pleased with the
implied compliment on his skill, and, walking off to the engine, discussed the
management of it with considerable fluency, and from that time treated us with
perfect respect. He was evidently struck with my husband’s reply to his question,
put in a most discourteous tone, “ Pray, what makes a gentleman ; I’ll thank you to
answer me that?” “ Good manners, and good education,” was the reply. “A rich
man, or a high-born man, if he is rude, ill-mannered, and ignorant, is no more a
gentleman than yourself.”

This put the matter on a different footing ; and the engineer had the good
sense to perceive that rude familiarity did not constitute a gentleman.

But it is now time I should give you some account of Peterborough, which, in
point of situation, is superior to any place I have yet seen in the Upper Province.
It occupies a central point between the townships of Monaghan, Smith, Cavan,
Otanahee, and Douro : and may, with propriety, be considered as the capital of the
Newcastle District.

It is situated on a fine elevated plain, just above the small lake, where the river
is divided by two low wooded islets. The original or government part of the town
is laid out in half-acre lots ; the streets, which are now fast filling up, are nearly at
right-angles with the river, and extend towards the plains to the north-east. These
plains form a beautiful natural park, finely diversified with hill and dale, covered
with a lovely greensward, enamelled with a variety of the most exquisite flowers,
and planted, as if by Nature’s own hand, with groups of feathery pines, oaks,
balsams, poplars, and silver birch. The views from these plains are delightful;
whichever way you turn your eyes they are gratified by a diversity of hill
and dale, wood and water, with the town spreading over a considerable tract of
ground.

The plains descend with a steep declivity towards the river, which rushes with
considerable impetuosity between its banks. Fancy a long narrow valley, and
separating the east and west portions of the town into two distinct villages.

The Otanahee bank rises to a loftier elevation than the Monaghan side, and
commamEan extensive view over the intervening valley, the opposite town, and the
boundary forest and hills behind it : this is called Peterborough East, and is in the

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

hands of two or three individuals of large capital, from whom the town lots are
purchased.

Peterborough, thus divided, covers a great extent of ground, more than suffi-
cient for the formation of a large city. The number of inhabitants is now
reckoned at 700 and upwards ; and if it continues to increase as rapidly in the next
few years as it has done lately, it will soon be a very populous town.

There is great water-pow'er, both as regards the river and the fine broad creek
which winds its way through the town, and falls into the small lake below. There
are several saw and grist-mills, a distillery, fulling-mill, two principal inns, besides
smaller ones, a number of good stores, and a government school-house, which also serves
for a church till one more suitable should be built. The plains are sold off in pack
lots, and some pretty little dwellings are being built ; but I much fear the natural
beauties of this lovely spot will be soon spoiled.

I am never weary with strolling about, climbing the hills in every direction, to
catch some new prospect, or gather some new flowers, which, though getting late in
the summer, are still abundant.

Among the plants with whose names I am acquainted, are a variety of shrubby
asters, of every tint of blue, purple, and pearly white ; a lilac monarda, most
delightfully aromatic, even to the dry stalks and seed-vessels ; the white gnaphalium,
or everlasting flower ; roses of several kinds, a few late buds of which J found in a
valley near the church. I also noticed among the shrubs a very pretty little plant,
resembling our box ; it trails along the ground, sending up branches and shoots ;
the leaves turn of a deep copper red, yet, in spite of this contradiction, it is an ever-
green. I also noticed some beautiful lichens, with coral caps surmounting the grey
hollow foot-stalks, which grow in irregular tufts among the dry mosses ; or more
frequently I found them covering the roots of the trees or half-decayed timbers.
Among a variety of fungi, I gathered a hollow cup, of the most splendid scarlet within,
and a pale fawn colour without ; another very beautiful fungi consisted of small
branches, like clusters of white coral, but of so delicate a texture, that the slightest
touch caused them to break.

The ground in many places was covered with a thick carpet of strawberries, of
many varieties, which afford a constant dessert during the season to those who
choose to pick them,— a privilege of which I am sure I should gladly avail myself
were I near them in the summer. Besides the plants I have myself observed in
blossom, I am told the spring and summer produce many others ; the orange lily ;
the phlox, or purple lichnidea ; the mocassin flower, or lady’s slipper; lilies of the
valley in abundance ; and, towards the banks of the creek and the Otanahee, the
splendid cardinal flower ( lobelia cardinalis ) waves its scarlet spikes of blossoms.

I am half inclined to be angryj when I admire the beauty of the Canadian

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

65

flowers, to be constantly reminded that they are scentless, and therefore scarcely
worthy of attention ; as if the eye could not be charmed by beauty of form and
harmony of colours, independent of the sense of smelling being gratified.

To redeem this country from the censure cast on it by a very clever gentleman
I once met in London, who said, “ the flowers were without perfume, and the birds
without song,” I have already discovered several highly aromatic plants and flowers.
The milkweed must not be omitted among these — a beautiful shrubby plant, with
purple flowers, which are alike remarkable for beauty of colour and richness
of scent.

I consider this country opens a wide and fruitful field to the inquiries of the
botanist. I now deeply regret I did not benefit by the frequent offers — — made
me of prosecuting a study which I once thought dry, but now regard as highly
interesting, and the fertile source of mental enjoyment, especially to those who,
living in the bush, must necessarily be shut out from the pleasures of a large circle
of friends, and the varieties that a town or village offer.

On Sunday I went to church; the first opportunity I had had of attending
public worship since I was in the highlands of Scotland ; and surely I had reason to
bow my knees in thankfulness to that merciful God, who had brought us through
the perils of the great deep, and the horrors of the pestilence.

Never did our beautiful Liturgy seem so touching and impressive as it did that
day, — offered up in our lowly log-built church in the wilderness.

This simple edifice is situated at the foot of a gentle slope on the plains,
surrounded by groups of oaks and feathery pines, which, though inferior in point
of size to the huge pines and oaks of the forest, are far more agreeable to our eye,
branching out in a variety of fantastic forms. The turf here is of an emerald
greenness ; in short, it is a sweet spot, retired from the noise and bustle of the town,
a fitting place in which to worship God in spirit and in truth.

There are many beautiful walks towards the Smith-town hills, and along the bank
that overlooks the river. The summit of this ridge is sterile, and is thickly set with
loose blocks of red and grey granite, interspersed with large masses of limestone
scattered in every direction ; they are mostly smooth and rounded, as if by the
action of water. As they are detached, and merely occupy the surface of the
ground, it seems strange to me how they came at that elevation. A geologist
would doubtless be able to solve the mystery in a few minutes. The oaks that grow
on this high bank are rather larger and more flourishing than those in the valleys
and more fertile portions of the soil.

Behind the town, in the direction of the Cavan and Emily roads, is a wide space,
which I call the “ squatters’ ground,” it being entirely covered with shanties, in which
the poor emigrants, commuted pensioners, and the like, have located themselves and

64

CANADIAN SCENERY.

families. Some remain here under the ostensible reason of providing a shelter for
their wives and children, till they have prepared a home for their reception on their
respective grants ; but not unfrequently it happens that they are too indolent, or
really unable to work on their lots, often situated many miles in the backwoods, and
in distant and unsettled townships, presenting great obstacles to the poor emigrant,
which it requires more energy and courage to encounter than is possessed by a vast
number of them. Others, of idle and profligate habits, spend the money they
received, and sell the land, for which they gave away their pensions, after which
they remain miserable squatters in the shanty ground.

The shanty is a sort of primitive hut in Canadian architecture, and is nothing
more than a shed built of logs, the chinks between the round edges of the timbers
being filled with mud, moss, and bits of wood ; the roof is frequently composed of
logs split and hollowed with the axe, and placed side by side, so that the edges rest
on each other ; the concave and convex surfaces being alternately uppermost, every
other log forms a channel to carry off the rain and melting snow. The eaves of this
building resemble the scolloped edges of a clamp shell ; but, rude as this covering is,
it effectually answers the purpose of keeping the interior dry, far more so than the
roofs formed of bark or boards, through which the rain will find entrance. Some-
times the shanty has a window, sometimes only an open doorway, which admits the
light and lets out the smoke. A rude chimney, which is often nothing better than
an opening cut in one of the top logs above the hearth, and a few boards fastened in a
square form, serves as the vent for the smoke ; the only precaution against the fire
catching the log-walls behind the hearth being a few large stones, placed in a half
circular form, or more commonly a bank of dry earth raised against the wall.

Nothing can be more comfortless than some of these rude shanties, reeking with
smoke and dirt, the common receptacle for children, pigs, and fowls. But I have
given ycta the dark side of the picture ; I am happy to say all the shanties on the
squatters’ ground were not like these. On the contrary, by far the larger proportion
were inhabited by tidy folks, and had one or even two small windows, and a clay
chimney, regularly built up through the roof ; some were even roughly floored, and
possessed similar comforts with the small log-houses.

You will, perhaps, think it strange when I assure you that many respectable
settlers, with their wives and families, persons delicately nurtured, and accustomed
to every comfort before they came hither, have been contented to inhabit a hut
of this kind during the first or second year of their settlement in the woods.

I have listened with feelings of great interest to the history of the hardships
endured by some of the first settlers in the neighbourhood, when Peterborough
contained but two dwelling-houses. Then there were neither roads cut, nor boats
built, for communicating with the distant and settled parts of the district ; conse-

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

65

quently the difficulties of procuring supplies of provisions was very great, beyond
what any one who has lately come hither can form any notion of.

When I heard of a whole family having had no better supply of flour than what
could be daily ground by a small hand-mill, and for weeks being destitute of every
necessary, not even excepting bread, I could not help expressing some surprise,
never having met with any account in the works I had read concerning emigration
that at all prepared one for such evils.

“ These particular trials,” observed my intelligent friend, “ are confined princi-
pally to the first breakers of the soil in the unsettled parts of the country, as was
our case. If you diligently question some of the families of the lower class that are
located far from the towns, and who had little or no means to support them during
the first twelve months, till they could take a crop off the land, you will hear many
sad tales of distress.”

Writers on emigration do not take the trouble of searching out these things, nor
does it answer their purpose to state disagreeable facts. Few have written exclu-
sively on the “ Bush.” Travellers generally make a hasty journey through the long-
settled and prosperous portions of the country ; they see a tract of fertile,
well-cultivated land, the result of many years of labour; they see comfortable
dwellings, abounding with all the substantial necessaries of life ; the farmer’s wife
makes her own soap, candles, and sugar ; the family are clothed in cloth of their own
spinning, and hose of their own knitting. The bread, the beer, butter, cheese,
meat, poultry, &c., are all the produce of the farm. He concludes, therefore, that
Canada is a land of Canaan, and writes a book setting forth these advantages, with
the addition of obtaining land for a mere song ; and advises all persons who would
be independent, and secure from want, to emigrate.

He forgets that these advantages are the result of long years of unremitting and
patient labour ; that these things are the crown, not the first-fruits of the settler’s
toil ; and that, during the interval, many and great privations must be submitted to
by almost every class of emigrants.

Many persons on first coming out, especially if they go back into any of the
unsettled townships, are dispirited by the unpromising appearance of things about
them. They find none of the advantages and comforts of which they had heard and
read, and they are unprepared for the present difficulties ; some give way to
despondency, and others quit the place in disgust.

A little reflection would have shown them that every rood of land must be
cleared of the thick forest of timber that encumbers it before an ear of wheat can be
grown ; that, after the trees have been chopped, cut into lengths, drawn together,
or logged, as we call it, and burned, the field must be fenced, the seed sown,
harvested, and thrashed, before any returns can be obtained; that this requires time

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and much labour, and, if hired labour, considerable outlay of ready money ; and, in
the mean time, a family must eat. If at a distance from a store, every article must
be brought through bad roads, either by hand or with a team, the hire of which is
generally costly in proportion to the distance and difficulty to be encountered in the
conveyance. Now these things are better known beforehand, and then people are
aware what they have to encounter.

Even a labouring man, though he have land of his own, is often, I may say
generally, obliged to hire out to work for the first year or two, to earn sufficient for
the maintenance of his family ; and ever so many of them suffer much privation
before they reap the benefit of their independence. Were it not for the hope and
certain prospect of bettering their condition ultimately, they would sink under
what they have to endure ; but this thought buoys them up. They do not fear an
old age of want and pauperism ; the present evils must yield to industry and perse-
verance ; they think also for their children ; and the trials of the present time are
lost in pleasing anticipations for the future.

“ Surely,” said I, “cows, and pigs, and poultry might be kept; and you know
where there is plenty of milk, butter, cheese, and eggs, with pork and fowls, persons
cannot be vei'y badly off for food.”

“ Very true,” replied my friend ; “but I must tell you it is easier to talk of these
things at first than to keep them, unless on cleared or partially cleared farms ; but
we are speaking of a first settlement in the backwoods. Cows, pigs, and fowls must
eat ; and if you have nothing to give them unless you purchase it, and perhaps have
to bring it from some distance, you had better not be troubled with them, as the
trouble is certain, and the profit doubtful. A cow, it is true, will get her living
during the open months of the year in the bush, but sometimes she will ramble
away for days together, and then you lose the use of her, and possibly much time in
seeking her ; then, in the winter, she requires some additional food to the browse
that she gets during the chopping season, or ten to one but she dies before spring ;
and as cows generally lose their milk during the cold weather if not very well kept,
it is best to part with them in the fall, and buy again in the spring, unless you have
plenty of food for them, which is not often the case the first winter. As to pigs,
they are great plagues on a newly-cleared farm if you cannot fat them off hand ;
and that you cannot do without you buy food for them, which does not answer to do
at first. If they run loose, they are a terrible annoyance both to your own crops
and your neighbour’s, if you happen to be within half a mile of one, for though you
may fence out cattle you cannot pigs : even poultry require something more than
they pick up about the dwelling to be of any service to you, and are often taken off
by hawks, eagles, foxes, and pole-cats, till you have proper securities for them.”

“ Then how are we to spin our own wool, and make our own soap and candles ?”

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

07

said I. “ When you are able to kill your own sheep, and hogs, and oxen, unless
you buy wool and tallow.” Then, seeing me begin to look somewhat disappointed,
he said, “ Be not cast down, you will have all these things in time, and more than
these, never fear, if you have patience, and use the means of obtaining them. In
the meanwhile prepare your mind for many privations to which at present you are a
stranger ; and if you would desire to see your husband happy and prosperous, be
content to use economy, and, above all, be cheerful. In a few years the farm will
supply you with all the necessaries of life, and by and by you may even enjoy many
of the luxuries. Then it is that a settler begins to taste the real and solid advan-
tages of his emigration ; then he feels the blessings of a country where there are no
taxes, tithes, nor poor-rates ; then he truly feels the benefit of independence. It is
looking forward to this happy fulfilment of his desires that makes the rough paths
smooth, and lightens the burden of present ills. He looks round upon a numerous
family, without those anxious fears that beset a father in moderate circumstances at
home ; for he knows he does not leave them destitute of an honest means of
support.”

In spite of all the trials he had encountered, I found this gentleman was so
much attached to a settler’s life, that he declared he would not go back to his own
country to reside for a permanence on any account ; nor is he the only one that
I have heard express the same opinion ; and it likewise seems a universal one
among the lower class of emigrants. They are encouraged by the example of
others, whom they see enjoying comforts that they could never have obtained
had they laboured ever so hard at home ; and they wisely reflect they must have had
hardships to endure had they remained in their native land, (many indeed had been
driven out by want,) without the most remote chance of bettering themselves, or
becoming the possessors of land free of all restrictions. “ What to us are the
sufferings of one, two, three, or even four years, compared with a whole life of
labour and poverty ?” was the remark of a poor labourer, who was recounting to us
the other day some of the hardships he had met with in this country. He said,
he “ knew they were only for a short time, and that by industry he should soon get
over them.”

I have already seen two of our poor neighbours that left the parish a twelve-
month ago ; they are settled in Canada Company lots, and are getting on well.
They have some few acres cleared and cropped, but are obliged to “ hire out,” to
enable their families to live, working on their own land when they can. The men
are in good spirits ; and say, “ they shall in a few years have many comforts about
them that they never could have got at home, had they worked late and early ; but
they complain that their wives are always pining for home, and lamenting that ever
they crossed the seas.” This seems to be the general complaint with all classes ;

68

CANADIAN SCENERY.

the women are discontented and unhappy. Few enter with their whole heart into a
settler’s life. They miss the little domestic comforts they had been used to enjoy ;
they regret the friends and relations they left in the old country ; and they cannot
endure the loneliness of the backwoods.

This prospect does not discourage me ; I know I shall find plenty of occupa-
tion within doors, and I have sources of enjoyment when I walk abroad that
will keep me from being dull. Besides, have I not a right to be cheerful and con-
tented for the sake of my beloved partner ? The change is not greater for me than
him ; and if, for his sake, I have voluntarily left home, and friends, and country,
shall I therefore sadden him by useless regrets ? I am always inclined to subscribe
to that sentiment of my favourite poet, Goldsmith, —

Still to ourselves in every place consign’d.

Our own felicity we make or find.”

But I shall very soon be put to the test, as we leave this town to-morrow by ten
o’clock. The purchase of the Lake lot is concluded. There are three acres
chopped, and a shanty up ; but the shanty is not a habitable dwelling, being merely
an open shed that was put up by the choppers as a temporary shelter ; so we shall
have to build a house. Late enough we are ; too late to get in a full crop, as the
land is merely chopped, not cleared ; and it is too late now to log and burn the
fallow, and get the seed-wheat in; but it will be ready for spring crops. We paid
five dollars and a half per acre for the lot ; this was rather high for wild land, so far
from a town, and in a scantily-settled part of the township ; but the situation is
good, and has a water-frontage, for which my husband was willing to pay something
more than if the lot had been further inland. * * * *

I shall begin my letter with a description of our journey through the bush, and
so go on, giving an account of our proceedings, both within doors and without. I
know my little domestic details will not prove wholly uninteresting to you ; for well
I am assured that a mother’s eye is never weary with reading lines traced by the
hand of an absent and beloved child.

After some difficulty, we succeeded in hiring a waggon and span («. e. pair
a-breast) of stout horses, to convey us and our luggage through the woods to the

banks of one of the lakes, where had appointed to ferry us across. There was

no palpable road, only a blaze on the other side, encumbered by fallen trees, and
interrupted by a great cedar swamp, into which one might sink up to one’s knees,
unless we took the precaution to step along the trunks of the mossy, decaying
timbers, or make our footing sure on some friendly block of granite or limestone.
What is termed in bush language a blaze , is nothing more than notches or slices cut
off the back of the trees, to mark out the line of road. The boundaries of the

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

G9

different lots are often marked by a blazed tree, also the concession-lines.* These
blazes are of as much use as finger-posts of a dark night.

The road we were compelled to take lay over the Peterborough plains, in the
direction of the river ; the scenery of which pleased me much, though it presented
little appearance of fertility, with the exception of two or three extensive clearings.

About three miles above Peterborough the road winds along the brow of a steep
ridge, the bottom of which has every appearance of having been formerly the bed of
a lateral branch of the present river, or perhaps some small lake, which has been
diverted from its channel, and merged into the Otanabee.

On either side of this ridge there is a steep descent ; on the right, the Otanabee
breaks upon you, rushing with great velocity over its rocky bed, forming rapids in
miniature, resembling those of the St. Lawrence ; its dark frowning woods of
sombre pine give a grandeur to the scene which is very impressive. On the left lies
below you a sweet secluded dell of evergreens, cedar, hemlock, and pine, enlivened
by a few deciduous trees. Through this dell there is a road-track, leading to a fine
cleared farm, the green pastures of which were rendered more pleasing by the
absence of the odious stumps that disfigure the clearings in this part of the country.
A pretty bright stream flows through the low meadow that lies at the foot of the
hill, which you descend suddenly close by a small grist-mill that is worked by the
waters, just where they meet the rapids of the river.

I called this place “ Glen Morrison,” partly from the remembrance of the lovely
Glen Morrison of the Highlands, and partly because it was the name of the settler
that owned the spot.

Our progress was but slow, on account of the roughness of the road, which is
beset with innumerable obstacles, in the shape of loose blocks of granite and lime-
stone, with which the lands on the banks of the river and lakes abound ; to say
nothing of fallen trees, big roots, mud-holes, and corduroy bridges, over which you
go jolt, jolt, jolt, till every bone in your body feels as if it were going to be dislo-
cated. An experienced bush-traveller avoids many hard thumps by rising up or
clinging to the sides of his rough vehicle.

As the day was particularly fine I often quitted the waggon, and walked on
with my husband for a mile or two.

We soon lost sight entirely of the river, and struck into the deep solitude of the
forest, where not a sound disturbed the almost awful stillness that reigned around us.
Scarcely a leaf or bough was in motion, excepting at intervals we caught the sound

* These concession-lines are certain divisions of the townships; these are again divided into so many lots of
200 acres. The concession -lines used to be marked by a wide avenue being chopped, so as to form a road of
communication between them ; but this plan was found too troublesome ; and in a few years the young growth
of timber so choked the opening, that it was of little use. The lately-surveyed townships, I believe, are only
divided by blazed lines.

VOL. II.

T

70

CANADIAN SCENERY.

of the breeze stirring the lofty heads of the pine-trees, and wakening a hoarse and
mournful cadence. This, with the tapping of the red-headed and grey woodpeckers
on the trunks of the decaying trees, or the shrill whistling cry of the little striped
squirrel, called by the natives ‘ chitmunk,’ was every sound that broke the stillness
of the wild. Nor was I less surprised at the absence of animal life. With the
exception of the aforesaid chitmunk, no living thing crossed our path during our
long day’s journey in the woods.

In these vast solitudes one would naturally be led to imagine that the absence
of man would have allowed natui'e’s wild denizens to have abounded free and
unmolested ; but the contrary seems to be the case. Almost all wild animals are
more abundant in the cleared districts than in the bush. Man’s industry supplies
their wants at an easier rate than seeking a scanty subsistence in the forest.

You hear continually of depredations committed by wolves, bears, racoons,
lynxes, and foxes, in the long-settled parts of the province. In the backwoods the
appearance of wild beasts is a matter of much rarer occurrence.

I was disappointed in the forest trees, having pictured to myself hoary giants,
almost primeval with the country itself, as greatly exceeding in majesty of form the
trees of my native isles, as the vast lakes and mighty rivers of Canada exceed the
locks and streams of Britain.

There is a want of picturesque beauty in the woods. The young growth of
timber alone has any pretension to elegance of form, unless I except the hemlocks,
which are extremely light and graceful, and of a lovely refreshing tint of green.
Even when winter has stripped the forest, it is still beautiful and verdant. The
young beeches, too, are pretty enough, but you miss that fantastic bowery shade
that is so delightful in our parks and woodlands at home.

There is no appearance of venerable antiquity in the Canadian woods. There
are no ancient spreading oaks, that might be called the patriarchs of the forest. A
premature decay seems to be their doom. They are uprooted by the storm, and
sink in their first maturity, to give place to a new generaticfti that is ready to fill
their places.

The pines are certainly the finest trees. In point of size there are none to
surpass them. They tower above all the others, forming a dark line that may be
distinguished for many miles. The pines being so much loftier than the other trees,
are sooner uprooted, as they receive the full and unbroken force of the wind in their
tops ; thus it is that the ground is continually strewn with the decaying trunks of
huge pines. They also seem more liable to inward decay, and blasting from light-
ning, and fire. Dead pines are more frequently met with than any other tree.

Much as I had seen and heard of the badness of the roads in Canada, I was not
prepared for such a one as we travelled along this day ; indeed, it hardly deserved

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

71

the name of a road, being little more than an opening hewed out through the woods,
the trees being felled and drawn aside, so as to admit a wheeled carriage passing
along. The swamps and little forest streams, that occasionally gush across the path,
are rendered passable by logs placed side by side. From the ridgy and striped
appearance of these bridges, they are aptly enough termed corduroy.

Over these abominable corduroys the vehicle jolts, jumping from log to log, with a
shock that must be endured with as good a grace as possible. If you could bear these
knocks, and pitiless thumpings and bumpings, without wry faces, your patience and
philosophy would far exceed mine ; — sometimes I laughed because I would not cry.

Imagine you see me perched upon a seat composed of carpet-bags, trunks, and
sundry packages, in a vehicle little better than a great rough deal box set on wheels,
the sides being merely pegged in, so that more than once I found myself in rather
an awkward predicament, owing to the said sides jumping out. In the very midst of
a deep mud-hole out went the front board, and with the shock went the teamster
(driver), who looked rather confounded at finding himself lodged in a slough as bad
as the “ Slough of Despond.” For my part, as I could do no good, I kept my seat,
and patiently awaited the restoration to order. This was soon effected, and all
went on well again, till a jolt against a huge pine-tree gave such ajar to the ill-set
vehicle, that one of the boards danced out that composed the bottom, and a sack of
flour, and a bag of salted pork, which was on its way to a settler’s whose clearing we
had to pass in the way, were ejected. A good teamster is seldom taken aback by
such trifles as these.

He is, or should be, provided with an axe. Ho waggon, team, or any other
travelling equipage, should be unprovided with an instrument of this kind, as no one
can answer for the obstacles that may impede his progress in the bush. The disasters
we met fortunately required but little skill in remedying. The sides need only a
stout peg, and the loosened planks that form the bottom being quickly replaced, away
you go again over root, stump, and stone, mud-hole, and corduroy ; now against the
trunk of some standing tree, now mounting over some fallen one, with an impulse
that would annihilate any lighter equipage than a Canadian waggon, which is
admirably fitted by its very roughness for such roads as we have in the bush.

The sagacity of the horses in this country is truly admirable. Their patience
in surmounting the difficulties they have to encounter, their skill in avoiding
the holes and stones, and in making their footing sure over the round and slippery
timbers of the log bridges, renders them very valuable. If they want the spirit and
fleetness of some of our high-bred blood horses, they make up in gentleness,
strength, and patience. This renders them most truly valuable, as they will travel
in such places that no British horse would, with equal safety to their drivers. Nor
are the Canadian horses, when well fed and groomed, at all deficient in beauty of

72

CANADIAN SCENERY.

colour, size, or form. They are not very often used in logging ; the ox is preferred
in all rough and heavy labour of this kind.

Just as the increasing gloom of the forest began to warn us of the approach of
evening, and I -was getting weary and hungry, our driver, in some confusion,
avowed his belief that, somehow or other, he had missed the track, though how he
could not tell, seeing there was but one road. We were nearly two miles from the
last settlement, and he said we ought to be within sight of the lake if we were on
the right road. The only plan, we agreed, was for him to go forward and leave the
team, and endeavour to ascertain if he were near the water ; and, if otherwise, to
return to the house we had passed, and inquire the way.

After running full half a mile a-head, he returned with a dejected countenance,
saying we must be wrong, for he saw no appearance of water ; and the road we were
on appeared to end in a cedar swamp, as the further he went the thicker the hem-
locks and cedars became ; so, as we had no desire to commence our settlement by a
night’s lodging in a swamp, — where, to use the expression of our driver, the cedars
grew as thick as hairs on a cat’s back, we agreed to retrace our steps.

After some difficulty the lumbering machine was turned, and slowly we began
our backward march. We had not gone more than a mile, when a boy came along,
who told us we might just go back again, as there was no other road to the
lake; and added, with a knowing nod of his head, “Master, I guess if you had
known the bush as well as I, you would never have been fule enough to turn when
you were going just right. Why, any body knows that them cedars and hemlocks
grow thickest near the water ; so you may just go back for your pains.”

It was dark, save that the stars came forth with more than usual brilliancy,
when we suddenly emerged from the gloomy forest to the shores of a beautiful little
lake, that gleamed the more brightly from the contrast of the dark masses of foliage
that hung over it, and the towering pine-woods that girt its banks.

Here, seated on a huge block of limestone, which was covered with a soft
cushion of moss, beneath the shade of the cedars that skirt the lake, surrounded with
trunks, boxes, and packages of various descriptions, which the driver had hastily
thrown from the waggon, sat your child, in anxious expectation of some answering
voice to my husband’s long and repeated holloa.

But when the echo of his voice had died away, we heard only the gurgling of
the waters at the head of the rapids, and the distant and hoarse murmur of a water-
fall some half mile below them.

We could see no sign of any habitation, no gleam of light from the shore to
cheer us. In vain we strained our ears for the plash of the oar, or welcome sound
of the human voice, or bark of some household dog, that might assure us we were
not doomed to pass the night in the lone wood.

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

73

We began now to apprehend we had really lost the way. To attempt returning
through the deepening darkness of the forest in search of any one to guide us was
quite out of the question, the road being so ill defined that we should soon have
been lost in the mazes of the woods. The last sound of the waggon wheels had died
way in the distance, and to have overtaken it would have been impossible. Bidding
me remain quietly where I was, my husband forced his way through the tangled
underwood along the bank, in hope of discovering some sign of the house we
sought, which we had every reason to suppose must be near, though probably hidden
by the dense mass of trees from our sight.

As I sat in the wood, in silence and in darkness, my thoughts gradually wan-
dered back across the Atlantic to my dear mothei’, and to my old home ; and I
thought, what wTould have been your feelings, could you at that moment have beheld
me as I sat on the cold mossy stone, in the profound stillness of that vast leafy
wilderness, thousands of miles from all those holy ties of kindred and early associa-
tions that make home in all countries a hallowed spot. It was a moment to press
upon my mind the importance of the step I had taken, in voluntarily sharing the lot
of the emigrant, — in leaving the land of my birth, to which, in all probability, I might
never again return. Great as was the sacrifice, — even at that moment, strange as
was my situation, — I felt no painful regret or fearful misgiving depress my mind. A
hoi)7 and tranquil peace came down upon me, soothing and softening my spirits into
a calmness that seemed as unruffled as wras the bosom of the water that lay
stretched before my feet.

My reverie was broken by the light plash of a paddle, and a bright line of light
showed a canoe dancing over the lake ; in a few minutes a well-known and friendly
voice greeted me as the little bark was moored among the cedars at my feet. My
husband having gained a projecting angle of the shore, had discovered the welcome
blaze of the wood fire in the log-house ; and, after some difficulty, had succeeded in
rousing the attention of its inhabitants. Our coming that day had long been given
up, and our first call had been mistaken for the sound of the ox-bells in the wood ;
this had caused the delay that had so embarrassed us.

We soon forgot our weary wanderings beside the bright fire that blazed on the

hearth of the log-house, in which we found S comfortably domiciled with his

wife. To the lady I was duly introduced ; and in spite of all remonstrances from
the affectionate and careful mother, three fair sleeping children were successively
handed out of their cribs to be shown me by the proud and delighted father.

Our welcome was given with that unaffected cordiality that is so grateful to the
heart ; it was as sincere as it was kind. All means were adopted to soften the
roughness of our accommodations ; which, if they lacked that elegance and conve-
nience to which we had been accustomed in England, were not devoid of rustic

VOL. II.

u

74

CANADIAN SCENERY.

comfort ; at all events, they were such as many settlers of the first respectability
have been glad to content themselves with, and many have not been half so well
lodged as we are now.

We may, indeed, consider ourselves fortunate in not being obliged to go at once
into the rude shanty that I described to you as the only habitation on our land.

This test of our fortitude was kindly spared us by S , who insisted on our

remaining beneath his hospitable roof till such time as we should have put up a
house on our own lot. Here, then, we are for the present fixed, as the Canadians
say ; and if I miss many of the little comforts and luxuries of life, I enjoy excellent
health and spirits, and am very happy in the society of those around me.

The children are already very fond of me. They have discovered my passion
for flowers, which they diligently search for among the stumps, and along the lake-
shore. I have begun collecting, and though the season is far advanced, my hortus
siccus boasts of several elegant specimens of fern ; the yellow Canadian violet, which
blooms twice in the year, in the spring and fall, as the autumnal season is expres-
sively termed ; two sorts of Michaelmas daisies, as we call the shrubby asters, of which
the varieties here are truly elegant ; and a wreath of the festoon pine, a pretty ever-
green, with creeping stalks, that run along the ground three or four yards in
length, sending up, at the distance of five or six inches, erect, stiff, green stems,
resembling some of our heaths in the dark, shining, green, chaffy leaves. The
Americans ornament their chimney glasses with garlands of this plant, mixed with
the dried blossoms of the life-everlasting (the pretty white and yellow flowers we
call love-everlasting) ; this plant is also called festoon pine. In my rambles in the
wood near the house, I have discovered a trailing plant, bearing a near resemblance
to the cedar, which I consider has, with equal propriety, a claim to the name of
ground or creeping cedar.

As much of the botany of these unsettled portions of the country is unknown to
the naturalist, and the plants are quite nameless, I take the liberty of bestowing
names upon them according to inclination or fancy. But while I am writing about
flowers, I am forgetting that you will be more interested in hearing what steps we
are taking on our land.

My husband has hired people to log up, (that is, to draw the chopped timbers into
heaps for burning,) and clear a space for building our house upon. He has also
entered into an agreement with a young settler in our vicinity to complete it for a
certain sum, within and without, according to a given plan. We are, however, to
call the “ bee,” and provide every thing necessary for the entertainment of our
worthy hive. Now, you know that a “ bee,” in American language, or rather
phraseology, signifies those friendly meetings of neighbours who assemble at your
summons to raise the walls of your house, shanty, barn, or any other building : this

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

75

is termed a “ raising bee.” Then there are logging-bees, husking-bees, chopping-
bees, and quilting-bees. The nature of the work to be done gives the name to the
bee. In the more populous and long-settled districts this practice is much discon-
tinued ; but it is highly useful, and almost indispensable to new settlers in the
remote townships, where the price of labour is proportionably high, and workmen
difficult to be procured.

Imagine the situation of an emigrant with a wife and young family, the latter
possibly too young to render him the least assistance in the important business of
chopping, logging, and building, on their first coming out to take possession of a lot
of wild land : how deplorable would their situation be, unless thejr could receive
quick and ready help from those around them !

This laudable practice has grown out of necessity ; and if it has its disadvantages, —
such, for instance, as being called upon at an inconvenient season for a return of
help by those who have formerly assisted you, — yet it is so indispensable to you that
the debt of gratitude ought to be cheerfully repaid. It is, in fact, regarded in the
light of a debt of honour ; you cannot be forced to attend a bee in return, but no
one that can does refuse, unless from urgent reasons ; and if you do not find it pos-
sible to attend in person, you may send a substitute in a servant, or in cattle, if you
have a yoke.

In no situation, and under no circumstance, does the equalizing system of
America appear to such advantage as in meetings of this sort. All distinctions of
rank, education, and wealth are for the time voluntarily laid aside. You will see
the son of the educated gentleman and that of the poor artisan, the officer and the
private soldier, the independent settler and the labourer who works out for hire,
cheerfully uniting in one common cause. Each individual is actuated by the bene-
volent desire of affording help to the helpless, and exerting himself to raise a home
for the homeless. ****** *

Our log-house is not yet finished, though it is in a state of forwardness. We are

still indebted to the hospitable kindness of S and his wife for a home. This

being their first settlement on their land, they have as yet many difficulties, in com-
mon with all residents in the backwoods, to put up with this year. They have a fine

block of land, well situated ; and S laughs at the present privations, to which

he opposes a spirit of cheerfulness and energy that is admirably calculated to effect
their conquest. They are now about to remove to a larger and more commodious
house that has been put up this fall, leaving us the use of the old one till our own
is ready.

We begin to get reconciled to our Robinson Crusoe sort of life ; and the consi-
deration that the present evils are but temporary, goes a great way towards recon-
ciling us to them.

76

CANADIAN SCENERY.

One of our greatest inconveniences arises from the badness of our roads, and the
distance at which we are placed from any village or town where provisions are to be
procured.

Till we raise our own grain, and fatten our own hogs, sheep, and poultry, we
must be dependent upon the stores for food of every kind. These supplies have to
be brought us, at considerable expense and loss of time, through our beautiful bush
roads ; which, to use the words of a poor Irishwoman, “ can’t he no worser.” “ Och,
darlint,” she said, “ but they are just bad enough, and can’t be no worser. Och, but
they arn’t like to our iligant roads in Ireland.”

You may send down a list of groceries to be forwarded when a team comes up,
and w’hen we examine our stores, behold rice, sugar, currants, pepper, and mustard
all jumbled into one mess! What think you of a rice pudding seasoned plentifully
with pepper, mustard, and, may be, a little rappee or prince’s mixture added by
way of sauce ? I think the recipe would cut quite a figure in the “ Cook’s Oracle,”
or Mrs. Dalgairn’s “ Practice of Cookery,” under the original title of a “ Bush
pudding.”

And then, woe and destruction to the brittle ware that may chance to travel
through our roads ! Lucky, indeed, are we, if, through the superior carefulness of
the person who packs them, more than one-half happens to arrive in safety. Por
such mishaps we have no redress. The storekeeper lays the accident upon the
teamster, and the teamster upon the bad roads, wondering that he himself escapes
with whole bones after a journey through the bush.

This is now the worst season of the year,— this and just after the breaking up of
the snow. Nothing hardly but an ox-cart can travel along the roads, and even that
with difficulty, occupying two days to perform the journey ; and the worst of the
matter is, that there are times when the most necessary articles of provisions are not
to be procured at any price. You see, then, that a settler in the bush requires to
hold himself pretty independent, not only of the luxuries and delicacies of the
table, but not unfrequently even of the very necessaries.

One time no pork is to be procured ; another time there is a scarcity of flour,
owing to some accident that has happened to the mill, or for the want of proper
supplies of wheat for grinding ; or perhaps the weather and the bad roads at the
same time prevent a team coming up, or people from going down. Then you must
have recourse to a neighbour, if you have the good fortune to be near one, or fare
the best you can on potatoes. The potatoe is, indeed, a great blessing here ; new
settlers would often be otherwise greatly distressed ; and the poor man and his
family, who are without resources, without the potatoe must starve.

Once our stock of tea was exhausted, and we were unable to procure more. In
this dilemma milk would have been an excellent substitute, or coffee, if we had

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

77

possessed it ; but we bad neither one nor the other, so we agreed to try the
Yankee tea — hemlock sprigs boiled. This proved to my taste a vile decoction ;
though I recognised some herb in the tea that was sold in London at five shillings a
pound, which I am certain was nothing better than dried hemlock leaves reduced to
a coarse powder.

S laughed at our wry faces, declaring the potation was excellent ; and he set

us an example by drinking six cups of this truly sylvan beverage. His eloquence
failed in gaining a single convert ; we could not believe it was only second to young
hyson. To his assurance that to its other good qualities it united medicinal virtues,
we replied that, like all other physic, it was very unpalatable.

“ After all,” said S , with a thoughtful air, “ the blessings and the evils of this

life owe their chief effect to the force of contrast, and are to be estimated by that
principally. We should not appreciate the comforts we enjoy half so much if we
did not occasionally feel the want of them. How we shall value the conveniences of a
cleared farm after a few years, when we can realise all the necessaries and many of
the luxuries of life 1”

“ And how we shall enjoy green tea after this odious decoction of hemlock !”
said I,

“ Very true; and a comfortable frame-house, and nice garden, and pleasant pas-
tures, after these dark forests, log-houses, and no garden at all!”

“ And the absence of horrid black stumps !” rejoined I. “Yes; and the absence
of horrid stumps ! Depend upon it, my dear, your Canadian farm will seem to you
a perfect paradise by the time it is all under cultivation ; and you will look upon it
with the more pleasure and pride from the consciousness that it was once a forest
wild, which, by the effects of industry and well-applied means, has changed to
fruitful fields. Every fresh comfort you realise around you will add to your happi-
ness ; every improvement within doors or without will raise a sensation of gratitude
and delight in your mind, to which those that revel in the habitual enjoyment of
luxury, and even of the commonest advantages of civilization, must in a great
degree be strangers. My pass-words are — ‘ Hope, resolution, and perseverance !’ ”
“ This,” said my husband, “ is true philosophy ; and the more forcible, because you
not only recommend the maxim, but practise it also.”

I had reckoned much on the Indian summer, of which I had read such delightful
descriptions ; but I must say it has fallen far below my expectations. Just at the
commencement of this month (November) we experienced three or four warm hazy
days, that proved rather close and oppressive. The sun looked red through the misty
atmosphere, tinging the fantastic clouds that hung in smoky volumes with saffron
and pale crimson light, much as I have seen the clouds above London look on a
warm sultry spring morning

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Not a breeze ruffled the waters, not a leaf (for the leaves had not entirely fallen)
moved. This perfect stagnation of the air was suddenly changed by a hurricane of wind
and snow that came on without any previous warning. I was standing near a group
of tall pines, that had been left in the middle of a clearing, collecting some beautiful
crimson lichens, S not being many paces distant, with his oxen drawing fire-

wood: suddenly we heard a distant hollow rushing sound, that momentarily increased,
the air around us being yet perfectly calm ; I looked up, and beheld the clouds,
hitherto so motionless, moving with amazing rapidity in several different directions.

A dense gloom overspread the heavens. S , who had been busily engaged with

the cattle, had not noticed my being so near, and now called to me to use all the
speed I could to gain the house, or an open part of the clearing, distant from the
pine-trees. Instinctively I turned towards the house, while the thundering shock
of trees falling in all directions at the edge of the forest, the rending of the branches
from the pines I had just quitted, and the rush of the whirlwind sweeping down the
lake, made me sensible of the danger with which I had been threatened.

The scattered boughs of the pines darkened the air as they whirled above me ;
then came the blinding snow storm ; but I could behold the progress of the tempest
in safety, having gained the threshold of our house. The driver of the oxen had
thrown himself on the ground, while the poor beasts held down their meek heads,

patiently abiding “ the pelting of the pitiless storm.” S , my husband, and the

rest of the household, collected in a group, watched with anxiety the wild havoc
of the warring elements. Not a leaf remained on the trees when the hurricane was
over; they were bare and desolate. Thus ended the short reign of the Indian
summer.

I think the notion entertained by some travellers, that the Indian summer is
caused by the annual conflagration of forests by those Indians inhabiting the
unexplored regions beyond the larger lakes, is absurd. Imagine for an instant what
immense tracts of woods must be yearly consumed to affect nearly the whole of the
continent of North America ; besides, it takes place at that season of the year when
the fire is least likely to run freely, owing to the humidity of the ground from the
autumnal rains. I should rather attribute the peculiar warmth, and hazy appear-
ance of the air that marks this season, to the fermentation going on of so great a
mass of vegetable matter that is undergoing a state of decomposition during the
latter part of October and the beginning of November. It has been supposed by
some persons that a great alteration will be effected in this season, as the process of
clearing the land continues to decrease the quantity of decaying vegetation. Nay,
I have heard the difference is already observable to those long acquainted with the
American continent.

Hitherto my experience of the climate is favourable. The autumn has been very

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fine, though the frosts are felt early in the month of September ; at first slightly,
of a morning, hut towards October more severely. Still, though the first part of
the day is cold, the middle of it is warm and cheerful.

We see already the stern advances of winter. It commenced very decidedly from
the breaking up of the Indian summer. November is not at all like the same
month at home. The early part was soft and warm, the latter cold, with keen
frosts, and occasional falls of snow ; but it does not seem to possess the dark,
gloomy, damp character of our British Novembers. However, it is not one season’s
acquaintance with the climate that enables a person to form any correct judgment of
its general character, but a close observance of its peculiarities and vicissitudes
during many years’ residence in the country.

I must now tell you what my husband is doing on our land. He has let out ten
acres to some Irish choppers, who have established themselves in the shanty for the
winter. They are to receive fourteen dollars per acre for chopping, burning, and
fencing-in that quantity. The ground is to be perfectly cleared of every thing but
the stumps ; these will take from seven to nine or ten years to decay ; the pine,
hemlock, and fir remain much longer. The process of clearing away the stumps is
too expensive for new beginners to venture upon, labour being so high that it
cannot be appropriated to any but indispensable work. The working season is very
short, on account of the length of time the frost remains on the ground. With the
exception of chopping trees, very little can be done. Those that understand the
proper management of uncleared land, usually underbrush, (that is, cut down all the
small timbers and brushwood,) while the leaf is yet on them ; this is piled in heaps,
and the wind-fallen trees are chopped through in lengths, to be logged up in the
spring with the winter’s chopping. The latter end of the summer and the autumn
are the best seasons for this work. The leaves then become quite dry and sear, and
greatly assist in the important business of burning off the heavy timbers. Another
reason is, that when the snow has fallen to some depth, the light timbers cannot be
cut close to the ground, or the dead branches and other encumbrances collected and
thrown into heaps.

We shall have about three acres ready for spring crops, provided we get a good
burning of that which is already chopped near the site of the house ; this will be
sown with oats, pumpkins, Indian corn, and potatoes : the other ten acres will be
ready for putting in a crop of wheat. So you see it will be a long time before we
reap a harvest. We could not even get in spring- wheat early enough to come to
perfection this year.

We shall try to get two cows in the spring, as they are little expense during the
spring, summer, and autumn ; and by the winter we shall have pumpkins and oat-
straw for them. * * * *

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

But it is time that I should give you some account of our log-house, into which
we moved a few days before Christmas. Many unlooked-for delays having hindered
its completion before that time, I began to think it would never be habitable.

The first misfortune that happened was the loss of a fine yoke of oxen, that were
purchased to draw in the house-logs ; that is, the logs for raising the walls of the
house. Not regarding the hush as pleasant as their former master’s cleared pastures,
or, perhaps, foreseeing some hard work to come, early one morning they took it into
their heads to ford the lake at the head of the rapids and march off, leaving no trace
of their route excepting their footing at the water’s edge. After many days spent
in vain search for them, the work was at a stand, and for one month they were
gone, and we began to give up all expectation of hearing any news of them. At
last we learned they were some twenty miles off, in a distant township, having made
their way through hush and swamp, creek and lake, back to their former owner,
with an instinct that supplied to them the want of roads and compass.

Oxen have been known to traverse a tract of wild country to a distance of thirty
or forty miles, going in a direct line for their former haunts by unknown paths,
where memory could not avail them. In the dog we consider it is scent, as well as
memory, that guides him to his far-off home ; but how is this conduct of the oxen to
be accounted for ? They returned home through the mazes of interminable forests,
where man, with all his reason and knowledge, would have been bewildered
and lost.

It was the latter end of October before even the walls of our house were up. To
effect this we called “ a bee.” Sixteen of our neighbours cheerfully obeyed our
summons ; and, though the day was far from favourable, so faithfully did our hive
perform their tasks, that by night the outer walls were raised.

The work went merrily on with the help of plenty of Canadian nectar (whisky),
the honey that our bees are solaced with. Some huge joints of salt pork, a peck of
potatoes, with a rice-pudding, and a loaf as big as an enormous Cheshire cheese,
formed the feast that was to regale them during the raising. This was spread out in
the shanty, in a very rural style. In short, we laughed, and called it a pic-nic in the
backwoods ; and rude as was the fare, I can assure you great was the satisfaction
expressed by all the guests of every degree, our “ bee” being considered as very well
conducted. In spite of the difference of rank among those that assisted at the bee,
the greatest possible harmony prevailed, and the party separated well pleased with
the day’s work and entertainment.

The following day I went to survey the newly-raised edifice, but was sorely puzzled,
as it presented very little appearance of a house. It was merely an oblong square
of logs, raised one above the other, with open spaces ; for the doors and windows were
not then chopped out, and the rafters were not up. In short, it looked a very queer

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

81

sort of a place ; and I returned home a little disappointed, and wondering that my
husband should be so well pleased with the progress that had been made. A day or
two after this I again visited it. The sleepers were laid to support the floors, and
the places for the doors and windows cut out of the solid timbers, so that it had not
quite so much the look of a bird-cage as before.

After the roof was shingled we were again at a stand, as no board could be pro-
cui'ed nearer than Peterborough, a long day’s journey through horrible roads. At
that time no saw-mill was in progress ; now there is a fine one building within a
little distance of us. Our flooring-boards were all to be sawn by hand, and it was
some time before any one could be found to perform this necessary work, and that
at high wages — six-and-sixpence per day. 'Well, the boards were at length down,
but of course of unseasoned timber ; this was unavoidable ; so as they could not be
planed, we were obliged to put up with their rough unsightly appearance, for no
better were to be had. I began to recal to mind the observation of the old gentle-
man with whom we travelled from Cobourg to Rice Lake. We console ourselves
with the prospect that by next summer the boards will all be seasoned, and then the
house is to be turned topsy-turvy, by having the floors all relaid, jointed, and
smoothed.

The next misfortune that happened, was, that the mixture of clay and lime, that
was to plaster the inside and outside of the house between the chinks of the logs,
was one night frozen to stone. Just as the work was about half completed, the
frost suddenly setting in, put a stop to our proceeding for some time, as the frozen
plaster yielded neither to fire nor to hot water, the latter freezing before it had any
effect on the mass, and rather making bad worse. Then the workman that was
hewing the inside walls to make them smooth, wounded himself with the broad axe,
and was unable to resume his work for some time.

I state these things merely to show the difficulties that attend us in the fulfilment
of our plans ; and this accounts, in a great measure, for the humble dwellings that
settlers of the most respectable description are obliged to content themselves with
at first coming to this country, — not, you may be assured, from inclination, but
necessity : I could give you such narratives of this kind as would astonish you.
After all, it serves to make us more satisfied than we should be, on casting our eyes
around to see few better off than we are, and many not half so comfortable, yet of
equal, and, in some instances, superior pretensions as to station and fortune.

Every man in this country is his own glazier ; this you will laugh at ; but if he
does not wish to see and feel the discomfort of broken panes, he must learn to put
them in his windows with his own hands. Workmen are not easily to be had in
the backwoods when you want them ; and it would be preposterous to hire a
man at high wages, to make two days’ journey to and from the nearest town

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to mend your windows. Boxes of glass of several different sizes are to be bought
at a very cheap rate in the stores. My husband amused himself by glazing the
windows of the house preparatory to their being fixed in.

To understand the use of carpenter’s tools, I assure you, is no despicable or use-
less kind of knowledge here I would strongly advise all young men coming to
Canada to acquire a little acquaintance with this valuable art, as they will often be
put to great inconvenience for the want of it.

I was once much amused with hearing the remarks made by a very fine lady, the
reluctant sharer of her husband’s emigration, on seeing the son of a naval officer of
some rank in the service busily employed in making an axe-handle out of a piece of
rock-elm.

“ I wonder you allow George to degrade himself so,” she said, addressing
his father.

The captain looked up with surprise. “ Degrade himself! In what manner,
madam ? My boy neither swears, drinks whisky, steals, nor tells lies.”

“ But you allow him to perform tasks of the most menial kind. What is he now
better than a hedge-carpenter ; and I suppose you allow him to chop, too ?”

“ Most assuredly I do. That pile of logs in the cart there was all cut by him
after he had left study yesterday,” was the reply.

“ I would see my boys dead before they should use an axe like common
labourers.”

“ Idleness is the root of all evil,” said the captain. “ How much worse might my
son be employed if he were running wild about the streets with bad companions.”

“ You will allow this is not a country for gentlemen or ladies to live in,” said
the lady.

“ It is the country for gentlemen that will not work, and cannot live without, to
starve in,” replied the captain, bluntly ; “ and for that reason I make my boys early
accustom themselves to be usefully and actively employed.”

“ My boys shall never work like common mechanics,” said the lady, indignantly.

“ Then, madam, they will be good for nothing as settlers ; and it is a pity you
dragged them across the Atlantic.”

“We were forced to come. We could not live as we had been used to do at
home, or I never would have come to this horrid country.”

“ Having come hither you would be wise to conform to circumstances. Canada
is not the place for idle folks to retrench a lost fortune in. In some parts of the
country you will find most articles of provision as dear as in London ; clothing much
dearer, and not so good, and a bad market to choose in.”

“ I should like to know, then, who Canada is good for?” said she, angrily.

fl It is a good country for the honest, industrious artisan. It is a fine country for

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

83

the poor labourer, who, after a few years of hard toil, can sit down in his own log-
house, and look abroad on his own land, and see his children well settled in life as
independent freeholders. It is a grand country for the rich speculator, who can
afford to lay out a large sum in purchasing lands in eligible situations ; for if he
have any judgment he will make a hundred per cent, as interest for his money after
waiting a few years. But it is a hard country for the poor gentleman, whose habits
have rendered him unfit for manual labour. He brings with him a mind unfitted to
his situation ; and even if necessity compels him to exertion, his labour is of little
value. He has a hard struggle to live. The certain expenses of wages and living-
are great, and he is obliged to endure many privations if he would keep within
compass, and be free of debt. If he have a large family, and brings them up
wisely, so as to adapt themselves early to a settler’s life, why he does well for them,
and soon feels the benefit on his own land ; but if he is idle himself, his wife extra-
vagant and discontented, and the children taught to despise labour, why, madam,
they will soon be brought down to ruin. In short, the country is a good country
for those to whom it is adapted ; but if people will not conform to the doctrine of
necessity and expediency, they have no business in it. It is plain Canada is not
adapted to every class of people.”

“ It was never adapted for me or my family,” said the lady, disdainfully.

“ Very true,” was the laconic reply ; and so ended the dialogue.

But while I have been recounting these remarks, I have wandered far from my
original subject, and left my poor log-house quite in an unfinished state. At last I
was told it was in a habitable condition, and I was soon engaged in all the bustle
and fatigue attendant on removing our household goods. We received all the assist-
ance we required from , who is ever ready and willing to help us. He laughed,

and called it a “ moving bee I said it was a “ fixing bee and my husband said
it was a “ settling bee I know we were unsettled enough till it was over. What
a din of desolation is a small house, or any house under such circumstances ! The
idea of chaos must have been taken from a removal or a setting to rights ; for I sup-
pose the ancients had their flittings , as the Scotch call it, as well as the moderns.

Various were the valuable articles of crockery- ware that perished in their short
but rough journey through the woods. Peace to their manes ! I had a good helper
in my Irish maid, who soon roused up famous fires, and set the house in order.

We have now got quite comfortably settled, and I shall give you a description of
our little dwelling. What is finished is only a part of the original plan ; the rest
must be added next spring or fall, as circumstances may suit.

A nice small sitting-room, with a store-closet, a kitchen, pantry, and bed-chamber,
form the ground-floor ; there is a good upper floor that will make three sleeping

rooms.

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

“ What a nut-shell !” I think I hear you exclaim. So it is at present ; but we
purpose adding a handsome frame front as soon as we can get boards from the mill,
which will give us another parlour, long-hall, and good spare bed-room. The
windows and glass-door of our present sitting-room command pleasant lake-views to
the west and south. When the house is completed we shall have a veranda in
front, and at the south side; which forms an agreeable addition in the summer,
being used as a sort of outer room, in which we can dine, and have the advantage of
cool air, protected from the glare of the sun-beams. The Canadians call these
verandas “ stoups.” Few houses, either log or frame, are without thmn. The
pillars look extremely pretty, wreathed with the luxuriant hop-vine, mixed with the
scarlet creeper and “ morning glory,” the American name for the most splendid of
major convolvuluses. These stoups are really a considerable ornament, as they con-
ceal in a great measure the rough logs, and break the barn-like form of the
building.

Our parlour is warmed by a handsome Franklin stove, with brass gallery and
fender. Our furniture consists of a brass-railed sofa, which serves upon occasion for
a bed, Canadian painted chairs, a stained pine table, green and white curtains, and
a handsome Indian mat that covers the floor. One side of the room is filled up with
our books. Some large maps and a few good prints nearly conceal the rough walls,
and form the decoration of our little dwelling. Our bed-chamber is furnished with
equal simplicity. We do not, however, lack comfort in our humble home ; and
though it is not exactly such as we could wish, it is as good as, under existing
circumstances, we could have.

I am anxiously looking forward to the spring, that I may get a garden laid out in
front of the house, as I mean to cultivate some of the native fruits and flowers,
which, I am sure, will improve greatly by cultivation. The strawberries that grow
wild in our pastures, woods, and clearings, are several varieties, and bear abundantly.
They make excellent preserves, and I mean to introduce beds of them into my
garden. There is a pretty little wooded islet on our lake, that is called Strawberry
Island — another. Raspberry Island ; they abound in a variety of fruits— wild grapes,
raspberries, strawberries, black and red currants, a wild gooseberry, and a beautiful
little trailing plant that bears white flowers like the raspberry, and a darkish purple
fruit consisting of a few grains of a pleasant brisk acid, somewhat like in flavour to
our dewberry, only not quite so sweet. The leaves of this plant are of a bright
light green, in shape like the raspberry, to which it bears in some respects so great
a resemblance (though it is not shrubby or thorny) that 1 have called it the “ trailing
raspberry.

I suppose our scientific botanists in Britain would consider me very impertinent
in bestowing names on the plants and flowers I meet with in these wild woods;

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

85

1 can only say, I am glad to discover the Canadian or even the Indian names if I can,
and where they fail I consider myself free to become their floral godmother, and
give them names of my own choosing.

I was tempted one fine frosty afternoon to take a walk with my husband on the
ice, which I was assured was perfectly safe. I must confess for the first half-mile I
felt very timid, especially when the ice is so transparent that you may see every
little weed or pebble at the bottom of the water. Sometimes the ice was thick
and white, and quite opaque. As we kept within a little distance of the shore,
I was struck by the appearance of some splendid red berries on the leafless bushes
that hung over the margin of the lake, and soon recognised them to be the high-
bush cranberries. My husband soon stripped the boughs of their tempting trea-
sure, and I, delighted with my prize, hastened home, and boiled the fruit with some
sugar, to eat at tea with our cakes. I never ate anything more delicious than they
proved ; the more so, perhaps, from having been so long without tasting fruit of any
kind, with the exception of preserves during our journey, and at Peterborough.

Soon after this I made another excursion on the ice, but it was not in quite so
sound a state. We nevertheless walked on for about three-quarters of a mile. We

were overtaken on our return by S , with a hand-sleigh, which is a sort of

wheelbarrow, such as porters use, without sides, and, instead of a wheel, is fixed on
wooden runners, which you can drag over the snow and ice with the greatest ease if

ever so heavily laden. S insisted that he would draw me home over the ice like

a Lapland lady on a sledge. I was soon seated in state, and in another minute felt
myself impelled forward with a velocity that nearly took away my breath. By the
time we reached the shore I was in a glow from head to foot.

You would be pleased with the situation of our house. The spot chosen is the
summit of a fine sloping bank above the lake, distant from the water’s edge some
hundred or two yards : the lake is not quite a mile from shore to shore. To the
south, again, we command a different view, which will be extremely pretty when
fully opened — a fine smooth basin of water, diversified with beautiful islands, that
rise like verdant groves from its bosom. Below these there is a fall of some feet,
where the waters of the lakes, confined within a narrow channel between beds of
limestone, rush along with great impetuosity, foaming and dashing up the spray in
mimic clouds. * * * * * *

What a different winter this has been to what I had anticipated ! The snows of
December were continually thawing ; on the 1st of January not a flake was to be
seen on our clearing, though it lingered in the bush. The warmth of the sun was
so great on the first and second days of the new year, that it was hardly possible to
endure a cloak, or even shawl, out of doors; and, within, the fire was quite too
much for us. The weather remained pretty open till the latter part of the month,

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when the cold set in severely enough, and continued so during February. The 1st
of March was the coldest day and night I ever experienced in my life ; the mercury
was down to twenty-five degrees in the house : abroad it was much lower. The
sensation of cold early in the morning was very painful, producing an involuntary
shuddering, and an almost convulsive feeling in the chest and stomach. Our
breaths were congealed in hoar-frost on the sheets and blankets. Every thing we
touched of metal seemed to freeze our fingers. This excessive degree of cold only
lasted three days, and then a gradual amelioration of temperature was felt.

During this very cold weather I was surprised by the frequent recurrence of a
phenomenon that I suppose was of an electrical nature. When the frosts were
most intense, I noticed that when I undressed, my clothes, which are at this cold
season chiefly of woollen cloth, or lined with flannel, gave out when moved a succes-
sion of sounds, like the crackling and snapping of fire, and, in the absence of a
candle, emitted sparks of a pale whitish blue light, similar to the flashes produced
by cutting loaf-sugar in the dark, or stroking the back of a black cat ; the same
effect was also produced when I combed and brushed my hair.

The snow lay very deep on the ground during February, and until the 19th of
March, when a rapid thaw commenced, which continued without intermission till
the ground was thoroughly freed from its hoary livery, which was effected in less
than a fortnight’s time. The air during the progress of the thaw was much warmer
and more balmy than it usually is in England, when a disagreeable damp cold is felt
during that process.

Though the Canadian winter has its disadvantages, it has also its charms. After
a day or two of heavy snow the sky brightens, and the air becomes exquisitely clear
and free from vapour ; the smoke ascends in tall spiral columns till it is lost ; seen
against the saffron-tinted sky of an evening, or early of a clear morning, when the
hoar-frost sparkles on the trees, the effect is singularly beautiful.

I enjoy a walk in the woods of a bright winter-day, when not a cloud, or the
faint shadow of a cloud, obscures the soft azure of the heavens above ; when, but for
the silver covering of the earth, I might look upwards to the cloudless sky and say,
“ It is June, sweet June !” The evergreens, as the pines, cedars, hemlock, and
balsam firs, are bending their pendent branches, loaded with snow, which the least
motion scatters in a mimic shower around, but so light and dry is it that it is shaken
off without the slightest inconvenience.

The tops of the stumps look quite pretty with their turbans of snow ; a blackened
pine-stump, with its white cap and mantle, will often startle you into the belief that
some one is approaching you thus fancifully attired. As to ghosts or spirits, they
appear totally banished from Canada. This is too matter-of-fact country for such
supernaturals to visit. Here there are no historical associations — no legendary tales

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

87

of those that came before us. Fancy would starve for lack of marvellous food to
keep her alive in the backwoods. We have neither fay nor fairy, ghost nor bogle,
satyr nor wood-nymph ; our very forests disdain to shelter dryad or hamadryad.
No naiad haunts the rushy margin of our lakes, or hallows with her presence our
forest rills. No Druid claims our oaks ; and instead of poring with mysterious awe
among our curious limestone rocks, that are often singularly grouped together, we
refer them to the geologist, to exercise his skill in accounting for their appearance ;
instead of investing them with the solemn characters of ancient temples or heathen
altars, we look upon them with the curious eye of natural philosophy alone.

Even the Irish and Highlanders of the humblest class seem to lay aside their
ancient superstitions on becoming denizens of the woods of Canada. I heard a
friend exclaim, when speaking of the want of interest this country possessed, “ It is
the most unpoetical of all lands ; there is no scope for imagination ; here all is new —
the very soil seems newly formed ; there is no hoary ancient grandeur in these
woods — no recollections of former deeds connected with the country. The only
beings in which I take any interest are the Indians, and they want the warlike
character and intelligence that I had pictured to myself they would possess.”

This was the lamentation of a poet. Now, the class of people to whom this
country is so admirably adapted are formed of the unlettered and industrious
labourers and artisans. They feel no regret that the land they labour on has not
been celebrated by the pen of the historian, or the lay of the poet. The earth
yields her increase to them as freely as if it had been enriched by the blood of
heroes. They would not spare the ancient oak from feelings of veneration, nor look
upon it with regard for any thing but its use as timber. They have no time, even
if they possessed the taste, to gaze abroad on the beauties of nature ; but their igno-
rance is bliss.

After all, these are imaginary evils, and can hardly be considered just causes for
dislike to the country. They would excite little sympathy among every-day men
and women, though doubtless they would have their weight with the more refined
and intellectual members of society, who naturally would regret that taste, learning,
and genius should be thrown out of its proper sphere.

For myself, though I can easily enter into the feelings of the poet and the enthu-
siastic lover of the wild and the wonderful of historic lore, I can yet make myself
very happy and contented in this country. If its volume of history is yet a blank,
that of nature is open, and eloquently marked by the finger of God ; and from its
pages I can extract a thousand sources of amusement and interest whenever I take
my walks in the forest or by the borders of the lakes.

But I must now tell you of our sugar-making, in which I take rather an active
part. Our experiment was on a very limited scale, having but one kettle, besides

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

two iron tripods ; but it was sufficient to initiate us in the art and mystery of boiling
the sap into molasses, and finally the molasses down to sugar.

The first thing to be done in tapping the maples, is to provide little rough
troughs to catch the sap as it flows ; these are merely pieces of pine-tree, hollowed
with the axe. The tapping the tree is done by cutting a gash in the bark, or boring
a hole with an auger. The former plan, as being most readily performed, is the
most usually practised. A slightly-hollowed piece of cedar or elder is then inserted,
so as to slant downwards, and direct the sap into the trough ; I have seen a flat
chip made the conductor. Ours were managed according to rule, you may be sure.
The sap runs most freely after a frosty night, followed by a warm bright day ; it
should be collected during the day in a barrel or large trough, capable of holding all
that can be boiled down the same evening ; it should not stand more than twenty-
four hours, as it is apt to ferment, and will not grain well unless fresh.

My husband, with an Irish lad, began collecting the sap the last week in March.
A pole was fixed across two forked stakes, strong enough to bear the weight of the
big kettle. Their employment during the day was emptying the troughs and
chopping wood to supply the fires. In the evening they lit the fires, and began
boiling down the sap.

It was a pretty, a picturesque sight, to see the sugar-boilers, with their bright
log-fire among the trees, now stirring up the blazing pile, now throwing in the liquid
and stirring it down with a big ladle. When the fire grew fierce it boiled and foamed
up in the kettle, and they had to throw in fresh sap to keep it from running over.

When the sap begins to thicken into molasses, it is then brought to the sugar-
boiler to be finished. The process is simple ; it only requires attention in skimming
and keeping the mass from boiling over, till it has arrived at the sugaring point,
which is ascertained by dropping a little into cold water. When it is near the
proper consistency, the kettle or pot becomes full of yellow froth, that dimples and
rises in large bubbles from beneath. These throw out puffs of steam ; and when
the molasses is in this stage, it is nearly converted into sugar. Those who pay great
attention to keeping the liquid free from scum, and understand the precise sugaring
point, will produce an article little if at all inferior to Muscovado.

In general you see the maple-sugar in large cakes, like bees’-wax, close and com-
pact, without showing the crystallization ; but it looks more beautiful when the
grain is coarse and sparkling, and the sugar is broken in rough masses like
sugar-candy.

The sugar is rolled or scraped down with a knife for use, as it takes long to dis-
solve in the tea without this preparation. I superintended the last part of the process,
that of boiling the molasses down to sugar ; and, considering it was a first attempt,
and without any experienced person to direct me, otherwise than the information

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

89

obtained from , I succeeded tolerably well, and produced some sugar of a fine

sparkling grain and good colour. Besides the sugar, I made about three gallons of
molasses, which proved a great comfort to us, forming a nice ingredient in cakes,
and an excellent sauce for puddings.

The Yankees, I am told, make excellent preserves with molasses instead of sugar.
The molasses boiled from maple-sap is very different from the molasses of the West
Indies, both in flavour, colour, and consistency.

Besides the sugar and molasses, we manufactured a small cask of vinegar, which
promises to be good. This was done by boiling five pails-full of sap down to two,
and fermenting it after it was in the vessel with barm ; it was then placed near the
fire, and suffered to continue there in preference to being exposed to the sun’s heat.

With regard to the expediency of making maple-sugar, it depends on circum-
stances whether it be profitable or not to the farmer. If he have to hire hands for
the work, and pay high wages, it certainly does not answer to make it, unless on a
large scale. One thing in its favour is, that the sugar season commences at a time
when little else can be done on the farm, with the exception of chopping, the frost
not being sufficiently out of the ground to admit of crops being sown ; time is,
therefore, less valuable than it is later in the spring.

Where there is a large family of children, and a convenient sugar-bush on the
lot, the making of sugar and molasses is decidedly a saving ; as young children can
be employed in emptying the troughs and collecting fire-wood, the bigger ones can
tend the kettles and keep up the fire while the sap is boiling, and the wife and
daughters can finish off the sugar within doors.

Maple-sugar sells for four-pence and six-pence per pound, and sometimes for more.
At first I did not particularly relish the flavour it gave to tea, but after awhile I
liked it far better than Muscovado, and as a sweet-meat it is to my taste delicious.
I shall send you a specimen by the first opportunity, that you may judge for yourself
of its excellence.

The weather is now very warm — oppressively so. We can scarcely endure the heat
of the cooking-stove in the kitchen. As to a fire in the parlour there is not much need
of it, as I am glad to sit at the open door and enjoy the lake-breeze. The insects
are already beginning to be troublesome, particularly the black flies — a wicked-
looking fly, with black body and white legs and wings ; you do not feel their bite for
a few minutes, but are made aware of it by a stream of blood flowing from the
wound ; after a few hours the part swells and becomes extremely painful.

These “beasties” chiefly delight in biting the sides of the throat, ears, and sides
of the cheek, and with me the swelling continues for many days. The mosquitoes
are also very annoying. I care more for the noise they make even than the sting.
To keep them out of the house we light little heaps of damp chips, the smoke of

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

which drives them away ; hut this remedy is not entirely effectual, and is of itself
rather an annoyance.

This is the fishing season. Our lakes are famous for masquinouge, salmon-trout,
white fish, black bass, and many others. We often see the lighted canoes of the

fishermen pass and repass of a dark night before our door. S is considered

very skilful as a spearsman, and enjoys the sport so much that he seldom misses a
night favourable for it. The darker the night, and the calmer the water, the better
it is for the fishing.

It is a very pretty sight to see these little barks slowly stealing from some cove
of the dark pine-clad shores, and manoeuvring among the islands on the lakes,
rendered visible in the darkness by the blaze of light cast on the water from the jack —
a sort of open grated iron basket, fixed to a long pole at the bows of the skiff or
canoe. This is filled with a very combustible substance, called fat-pine, which burns
with a fierce and rapid flame, or else with rolls of birch-bark, which is also very
easily ignited.

The light from above renders objects distinctly visible below the surface of the
water. One person stands up in the middle of the boat with his fish-spear, — a sort
of iron trident, — ready to strike at the fish that he may chance to see gliding in the
still waters, while another with his paddle steers the canoe cautiously along. This
sport requires a quick eye, a steady hand, and great caution, in those that
pursue it.

I delight in watching these torch-lighted canoes so quietly gliding over the calm
waters, which are illuminated for yards with a bright track of light, by which we
may distinctly perceive the figure of the spearsman standing in the centre of the
boat, first glancing to one side, then the other, or poising his weapon ready for a
blow. When four or five of these lighted vessels are seen at once on the fishing
ground, the effect is striking and splendid.

The Indians are very expert in this kind of fishing ; the squaws paddling the
canoes with admirable skill and dexterity. There is another mode of fishing in
which these people also excel ; this is fishing on the ice, when the lakes are frozen
over — a sport that requires the exercise of great patience. The Indian, provided
with his tomahawk, with which he makes an opening in the ice, a spear, his blanket,
and a decoy-fish of wood, proceeds to the place he has fixed upon. Having cut a
hole in the ice, he places himself on hands and knees, and casts his blanket over
him, so as to darken the water and conceal himself from observation ; in this position
he will remain for hours, patiently watching the approach of his prey, which he
strikes with admirable precision as soon as it appears within the reach of his spear.

The masquinouge thus caught are superior in flavour to those taken later in the
season, and may be bought very reasonably from the Indians. I gave a small loaf

IMPRESSIONS OF CANADA UPON EMIGRANTS.

91

of bread for a fish weighing from eighteen to twenty pounds. The masquinouge is,
to all appearance, a large species of the pike, and possesses the ravenous propensities
of that fish.

One of the small lakes of the Otanahee is called Trout Lake, from the abundance
of salmon-trout that occupy its waters. The white fish is also found in these lakes,
and is very delicious. The large sorts of fish are mostly taken with the spear, few
persons having time for angling in this busy country.

As soon as the ice breaks up, our lakes are visited by innumerable flights of wild
fowl ; some of the ducks are extremely beautiful in their plumage, and are very fine
flavoured. I love to watch these pretty creatures, floating so tranquilly on the
water, oi suddenly rising and skimming along the edge of the pine-fringed shores,
to drop again on the surface, and then remain stationary, like a fleet at anchor.
Sometimes we see an old duck lead out a brood of little ones from among the
rushes ; the innocent soft things look very pretty sailing round their mother, but at
the least appearance of danger they disappear instantly by diving. The frogs are
great enemies to the young broods •, they are also the prey of the masquinouge, and
I believe of other large fish that abound in these waters.

The ducks are in the finest order during the early part of the summer, when they
resort to the rice-beds in vast numbers, getting very fat on the green rice, which
they eagerly devour.

The Indians are very successful in their duck-shooting : they fill a canoe with
green boughs, so that it resembles a sort of floating island ; beneath the cover of
these boughs they remain concealed, and are enabled by this device to approach
much nearer than they otherwise could do to the wary birds. The same plan is
often adopted by our own sportsmen with great success.

A family of Indians have pitched their tents very near us. On one of the islands
of our lake we can distinguish the thin blue smoke of their wood fires, rising among
the trees, from our front window, or curling over the bosom of the waters.

The squaws have been several times to see me ; sometimes from curiosity, some-
times with the view of bartering their baskets, mats, ducks, or venison, for pork,
flour, potatoes, or articles of wearing apparel. Sometimes their object is to borrow
“ kettle to cook,” which they are very punctual in returning.

Once a squaw came to borrow a washing tub, but not understanding her language
I could not for some time discover the object of her solicitude ; at last, she took up
a corner of her blanket, and, pointing to some soap, began rubbing it between her
hands, imitated the action of washing, then laughed, and pointed to a tub ; she then
held up two fingers, to intimate it was for two days she needed the loan.

The people appear of gentle and amiable dispositions ; and, as far as our experi-
ence goes, they are very honest. Once, indeed, the old hunter, Peter, obtained

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CANADIAN SCENERY.

from me some bread, for which he promised to give a pair of ducks; but when the
time came for payment, and I demanded m}r ducks, he looked gloomy, and replied

with characteristic brevity, “ No duck — Chippewa (meaning S , this being the

name they have affectionately given him,) gone up lake with canoe — no canoe — duck
by-and-by.” By-and-by is a favourite expression of the Indians, signifying an inde-
finite point of time ; may be, it means to-morrow, or a week, or month, or it may
be a year, or even more. They rarely give you a direct promise. As it is not wise
to let any one cheat you if you can prevent it, I coldly declined any further over-
tures to bartering with the Indians till my ducks made their appearance. Some
time afterwards I received one duck by the hands of Maquin, a sort of Indian
Flibberty-gibbet. This lad is a hunchbacked dwarf, very shrewd, but a perfect imp;
his delight seems to be tormenting the brown babies in the wigwams, or teazing the
meek deer-hounds.

The forest trees are nearly all in leaf. Never did spring burst forth with greater
rapidity than it has done this year. The verdure of the leaves is most vivid.
A thousand lovely flowers are expanding in the woods and clearings. Nor are our
Canadian songsters mute : the cheerful melody of the robin, the bugle-song of the
blackbird and thrush, with the weak but not unpleasing call of the little bird called
thitabebee ; and a wren, whose note is sweet and thrilling, fill our woods.

For my part, I see no reason or wisdom in carping at the good we do possess,
because it lacks something of that which we formerly enjoyed. I am aware it is the
fashion for travellers to assert that our feathered tribes are either mute, or give utter-
ance to discordant cries that pierce the ear, and disgust rather than please. It would
be untrue were I to assert that our singing birds are as numerous or as melodious,
on the whole, as those of Europe ; but I must not suffer prejudice to rob my adopted
country of her rights, without one word being spoken in behalf of her feathered
vocalists. Nay, I consider her very frogs have been belied ; if it were not for the
monotony of their notes, I really consider they are not quite unmusical. The green
frogs are very handsome, being marked over with brown oval shields on the most
vivid green coat ; they are larger in size than the biggest of our English frogs, and
certainly much handsomer in every respect. Their note resembles that of a bird,
and has nothing of the croak in it.

In conclusion, though Canada might not seem a paradise to town-bred gentlemen,
or modern fine ladies — it possesses advantages to persons of sober, industrious habits,
which are not to be found in England. If the emigrant and his family can but
struggle through the hardships and privations of a first settlement in the back-woods,
there is little doubt that they will in time secure a moderate independence, and be
above want, though not above work.”

CHAP. VII.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

The Province of New Brunswick holds an important position amongst the
colonies of Great Britain. To the political economist it presents a tract of country
27,704 square miles in superficial extent, — blessed with a salubrious climate, — a
rich and productive soil, capable of receiving the whole tide of British emigration,
should it turn in that direction, and of contributing to the comfort and happiness
of the surplus of our industrious population. To the trader and capitalist the
advantages this colony offers are equally great : — the whole area of this vast terri-
tory is intersected by innumerable navigable rivers and lakes; its shores are indented
with safe and commodious harbours ; its seas and rivers stored with excellent fish ;
its fertile plains and valleys, that are now covered with timber, require only the
industry of man to make them yield corn and the fruits of the earth in prodigal
abundance; its mountains teem with various mineral productions — iron, copper,
zinc, manganese ; gold and silver have been found in various parts of the province ;
coal of superior quality is abundant in several localities, and gypsum forms a
principal article of the exports of the country to the United States. In short,
whether we regal'd this old but much neglected colony in a social or commercial
point of view, it possesses much to recommend it to the attention of every thinking
Englishman.

It is not my intention, however, to do more than allude briefly to these or

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NEW BRUNSWICK.

other topics which might be considered irrelevant to the object of a work purporting
to illustrate the scenery of the country.

The history of New Brunswick is closely connected with that of the adjoining
province of Nova Scotia, of which it formed a portion until the year 1785. Its
first settlers were a few families from New England in 1762, who planted themselves
on the River St. John, about fifty miles from its mouth. After the peace with
America in 1783, upwards of four thousand persons from Nantucket came also to
seek a home in those almost untrodden wildernesses.

The difficulties of settling in any new country are sufficiently numerous and
formidable ; but the hardships which these poor people had to endure were of
more than ordinary severity. On their arrival late in the autumn, they found a
few wretched hovels where St. John now stands ; the surrounding country presenting
a most desolate aspect, which was peculiarly discouraging to people who had just
left their homes in the beautiful and cultivated parts of the United States. As
they proceeded up the river St. John, the country wore a more pleasing aspect.
At St. Ann’s, where Fredericton is now built, they met a few scattered huts of
the old French settlers, the country around being a perfect wilderness, uninhabited
save by wild beasts or more savage Indians. The winter, which was at that time
more rigorous than it is at present, surprised the unfortunate settlers before they
had time to complete the construction of their cabins ; added to which, they were
frequently reduced to the direst extremities for food and clothing to preserve their
existence. Frequently had they to travel from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles
with hand-sleds, through trackless woods, or on the ice-bound rivers, to procure a
scanty supply of provisions for their families at the Government stores : and in
the piercing cold of winter, a part of the family had to remain up during the night
to keep the fire in their huts, to prevent the other part from freezing. Some of
the more destitute settlers made use of boards instead of bedding ; the father, or
some of the elder members of the family, remaining up by turns, and warming two
pieces of board, which they applied alternately to the smaller children to keep
them warm, with many similar expedients. By patience and endurance, almost
unexampled, they struggled through their sufferings; and, by unremitting exertions,
subdued the wilderness, and covered the face of the country with thriving towns, and
villages, and habitations, where peace, plenty, and industry have fixed their abodes.

My route to New Brunswick from Canada was by the Grand Portage, about
thirty-six miles across. The roads, though bad, were better than I expected. On
my way I passed through some new settlements on reclaimed swamps, near the
River de Loup, and crossed two or three high mountains, which form part of the
Alleghany chain, lying between New Brunswick and the River St. Lawrence.
The greater part of the country here is a complete bed of rocks, and the whole way

SETTLEMENT OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

95

through the woods offers little encouragement for settlers. Having passed the Portage,
I reached Lake Tamisquata or Tamiscouata, a wild and solitary piece of water,
twenty-eight miles in length. The land upon its banks is generally inferior, but
upon its western side there are several swells of fruitful ground. From this lake
the River Madawaska takes its rise, and winds for thirty miles through an almost
boundless forest. The country on either side is exceedingly fertile ; and the
scenery is of the most wild and magnificent description. A few Acadians*, the
descendants of the original French settlers, are located on the banks of this lonely
river ; they are exceedingly simple in their manners, and have little intercourse with
the rest of the world, except when at distant intervals they visit Fredericton to
dispose of the surplus produce of their little farms. Their wants are few, and they
live a quiet pastoral life, retaining a strong attachment to the dress, habits, language,
and religion of their forefathers.!

This settlement is comprehended in the disputed territory claimed by the
Americans on the Maine frontier ; which, in point of fertility, valuable timber, and
beautiful rivers and streams, is equal to any part of America.

The season at which I entered New Brunswick was May, the most favourable
period in the year for seeing the country to advantage. It is then that summer
bursts at once from the cold embrace of winter ; for the few days intervening between
the rigorous cold of winter, and the genial heat of the weather such as we experience
in England in the month of June, can scarcely be called a spring. To persons who
have only witnessed the tardy advances of summer through the months of March,
April, and May, in Great Britain, the sudden change which takes place at this
season in Canada and the adjoining colonies is especially surprising ; in the course
of three or four days, the fields and deciduous trees put on their verdant liveries, innu-
merable garden and field flowers burst into full blow, the birds of summer make their
appearance and enliven the woods with their glad songs, and the American night-
ingales, as the frogs are called, commence their singular evening concerts. In short,
nothing can be imagined more delightful than the astonishing quickness with which

* The descendants of the French who settled in the colonies now possessed by Great Britain are distinguished
by the appellations of Canadians and Acadians. The former were settled in Canada, and the latter principally in
Nova Scotia, then called Acadia. The Acadians are now to be found in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island,
New Brunswick, and Cape Breton ; always by themselves in distinct settlements, and scarcely ever inter-
marrying with strangers.

t The Acadian women in Prince Edward Island dress after nearly the same fashion as the Bavarian broom-
girls. On Sundays their costume is peculiarly neat and picturesque ; they wear over their shoulders a small
blue cloth cloak reaching only half way down the body, and generally fastened at the breast with an ornamental
brass brooch ; on week-days they usually wear wooden shoes. The men dress in round blue jackets with standing
collars, and rows of shining metal buttons placed closely down the front, scarlet waistcoats, and loose blue
trowsers. Mr. Me Gregor, in describing the Acadian customs, says, “ Among all the Acadians in Prince Edward
Island I never knew but one person who had the hardihood to dress differently from what they call “ notre fajon.”
On one occasion he ventured to put on an English coat, and he has never since, even among his relations, been
called by his proper name, Joseph Gallant, which has been supplanted by that of “ J oe Peacock.”

96

NEW BRUNSWICK.

the face of nature becomes clothed with all the charms of summer. The forests, which
cover the greatest part of the province of New Brunswick, are unequalled in magni-
ficence in any other part of the world. The banks of the river St. John are remark-
able for the magnitude and abundance of the timber with which they are overgrown.
Many varieties of the red, yellow, and pitch pine, intermingled with the graceful
larch, the picturesque beech and maple, birch, elm, oak, and numerous other tribes of
forest timber, grow down close to the water’s side, spreading in stately grandeur
over the broad plains, or stretching proudly up to the summits of the mountains that
descend precipitously to the river. In summer the bright and cheerful green
of the forests is exceedingly beautiful and refreshing to the eye, the dark pines
alone forming a sombre contrast to the vivid freshness of the deciduous trees ; but it is
in autumn that an American forest wears its most enchanting colours ; — two or three
frosty nights in the decline of the season transform the rich and boundless verdure
of a vast tract into brilliant scarlet, rich violet, and every possible tint of blue and
brown, deep crimson and golden yellow. The fir tribes alone maintain their
unchangeable dark green hue ; all others on mountain and in valley burst into
glorious beauty, and exhibit the most splendid and enchanting picture that earth can
produce. It is from these immense forests that New Brunswick now draws its
principal wealth. The timber trade,* which has hitherto almost wholly engaged the
attention of settlers, is of great importance, and employs a vast number of people,
whose manner of living, owing to the nature of the business they follow, is alto-
gether different from that of the inhabitants who are occupied in agricultural
pursuits.

Throughout all New Brunswick, the wood fellers, or “ lumberers,” as they are
there termed, bear a very indifferent reputation, being generally, and I fear with
too much justice, regarded as men of dissolute and extravagant habits, and whose
moral character, with few exceptions, is dishonest and worthless. The curious man-
ner in which these people associate themselves for the purpose of cutting timber is
so well described by a modern writer, that I cannot do better than transcribe
his account of it. “Several men,” he says, “form what is called a lumbering
party, composed of persons who are either hired by a master labourer, who pays
them wages, and finds them in provisions ; or of individuals, who enter into an
understanding with each other to have a joint interest in the proceeds of their
labour : the necessary supplies of provisions, clothing &c., are generally obtained

* St.John and Miramichi are the two places from whence the exportation of timber is principally carried on
in New Brunswick. The town of Miramichi is seated at the mouth of a beautiful and majestic river of the same
name, which divides into three great branches, upon whose banks dwell a thinly-scattered population, who em-
ploy themselves during the winter chiefly in hewing timber in the woods, and in rafting it down the river in
summer to the places where the ships load-

LUMBERING PARTIES.

97

from the merchants on credit, in consideration of receiving the timber which the
lumberers are to bring down the rivers the following summer. The stock deemed
requisite for a lumbering party consists of axes, a cross-cut saw, cooking utensils,
a cask of rum, tobacco and pipes, a sufficient quantity of biscuit, pork, beef, and
fish; pease and pearl barley for soup, with a cask of molasses to sweeten a decoction
usually made of shrubs, as of the tops of the hemlock tree. Two or three yokes ol
oxen, with sufficient hay to feed them, are also required to haul the timber out of
the woods. When thus prepared, these people proceed up the rivers with the pro-
visions to the place fixed on for their winter establishment, which is selected as near
a stream of water, and in the midst of as much pine timber, as possible. They com-
mence by clearing away a few of the surrounding trees, and building a camp of round
logs, the walls of which are seldom more than four or five feet high ; the roof is
covered with birch bark or boards. A pit is dug under the camp, to preserve any
thing liable to injury from the frost. The fire is either in the middle or at one
end ; the smoke goes out through the roof ; hay, straw, or fir branches are spread
across, or along the whole length of the habitation, on which they all lie down
together at night to sleep, with their feet next the fire. When the fire gets low, he
who first awakes or feels cold springs up, and throws on five or six billets ; and in
this way they manage to have a large fire all night. One person is hired as cook,
whose duty it is to have breakfast prepared before daylight ; at which time all the
party rise, when each takes his “ morning ,” the indispensable dram of raw rum,
immediately before breakfast. This meal consists of bread, or occasionally potatoes,
with boiled beef, pork, or fish, and tea sweetened with molasses. Dinner is usually the
same, with pease soup instead of tea ; and the supper resembles the breakfast.
These men are enormous eaters ; and they also drink great quantities of rum, which
they scarcely ever dilute. Immediately after breakfast they divide into three gangs,
one of which cuts down the trees, another hews them, and the third is employed with
the oxen in hauling the timber, either in one general road leading to the banks ol
the nearest stream, or at once to the stream itself. Fallen trees and other impedi-
ments in the way of the oxen are cut away with the axe.”

Such is the toilsome life of a lumberer from October until the month of April ;
amidst forests covered with snow, and exposed to all the severity of the winter,
without experiencing any of its comforts. But it is when the snow begins to
dissolve in April, and the “ freshets” come down the rivers, that the lumberer’s most
trying labours commence. The timber which has been cut during the winter is
now thrown into the stream, and floated down to some convenient place for con-
structing a raft. The water at this period, owing to the snow water in the freshets,
is more intensely cold than in the depth of winter; the lumberers are obliged
to be immersed in it from morning till night, and it is seldom less than six weeks

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from the time the floating the timber commences, till the rafts are delivered into the
merchant’s hands. This course of life, it is evident, must undermine the constitution ;
and the sudden transition from the extreme cold of winter in the backwoods to the
scorching heat of the summer sun, must tend still farther to weaken and reduce
the system. In order to sustain the cold, and stimulate the organs, these men are
in the habit of swallowing immoderate quantities of ardent spirits ; we cannot,
then, wonder that premature old age and shortness of days should form the almost
inevitable fate of a lumberer. Should one of them, more prudent than his fellows,
save a little money, and he enabled for the last few years of his life to exist with-
out labour, he only drags out a miserable existence — the victim of rheumatism, and
all the miseries of a broken down constitution.

A few miles above the Acadian settlements, the St. John receives the waters of
the Madawaska; and inclining to the westward, flows in a deep and sluggish stream
through a wilderness of l’ich and fertile lands, until it reaches the Grand Falls of
the St. John, which for romantic beauty are perhaps unequalled by the most cele-
brated falls in the world. Mr. Me Gregor, who visited them, asserts, that, though they
cannot be compared with Niagara in point of magnitude, the tout ensemble of the
tremendous rocks, the gigantic woods, and the continuity of the cararacts and rapids
below the St. John Falls, is finer than any thing that the otherwise unparalleled
Niagara can boast of. Bateaux and other craft navigating the river at this point,
are carried across a narrow neck of land, from a small cove immediately above the
falls, to another little creek at some distance below them. The river, which a short
way above the falls is broad and placid, becomes suddenly contracted between high
and rocky banks, overhung with trees of immense growth, and rushes along a descent
of several feet with prodigious impetuosity, until the interruption of a ridge of
rocks, close to the edge of the grand falls, changes the turbulent stream into one
vast sheet of broken foam, thundering over a precipice, fifty feet in perpendicular
height, into a deep vortex filled with huge rocks, amongst which the immense body
of waters is for a moment partially lost. Re-appearing, it continues its course
through a narrower channel, pent in by rugged overhanging cliffs, and dashing with
extraordinary velocity over a succession of lesser falls, more than half a mile in
length, forms a picture of terrific grandeur and sublimity. The scenery after
passing the grand falls is of the wildest and boldest character imaginable ; and
the rocky bed of the river is exceedingly dangerous for rafts and bateaux, which,
however, are dexterously navigated through the broken waters and foaming
rapids.

From this point the settlements on the fertile tracts of intervale land which lie
near the river become more numerous, and it is no unfrequent occurrence with
travellers in the woods to fall in with a farmer and his family hard at work forming

A FIRST SETTLEMENT.

99

a first settlement. These settlers are mostly Americans,* or English and
Scotch farmers, who have emigrated from the mother country to endeavour by honest
labour to obtain a comfortable independence for themselves and their children. It is
a singularly interesting sight — one of these new settlements buried in the depths of a
pine forest, and proves how many seeming and real difficulties a man may overcome
by patience and industry. Who without some strong motive for exertion would
not feel discouraged at the sight of the wilderness land covered with heavy trees,
which he must cut down and destroy before he can commit to the earth the seed
which is to produce food for his family ? But with the prospect of independence and
comfort before him, the strong-hearted settler falls cheerfully to work, the lusty
strokes of his axe ring through the lonely woods, and the monarchs of the forest
fall one after the other beneath his vigorous arm. A. small space is cleared, and
he begins to raise the walls of his future dwelling. Round logs, from fifteen to
twenty feet in length, are laid horizontally over each other, notched at the corners so
as to let them down sufficiently close, till the walls have attained the requisite
height : — the interstices between the logs are then filled with moss and clay ; a
few rafters are afterwards raised for the roof, covered with pine or birch bark, and
thatched with spruce branches ; the chimney is formed of wooden frame-work, and
plastered with clay and straw kneaded together ; a door-way and an aperture for a
window are next cut in the walls of the house ; the door and sashes are fixed
in their places ; a few rough boards, or logs hewn flat on one side, are laid down
for a floor, and overhead a similar flooring, to form a sort of garret or lumber room.
With the addition of a few articles of furniture of the rudest construction, the habi-
tation is now considered ready to receive the family of the settler, who view with
unbounded delight their new dwelling, and joyfully prepare, for the first time
since their sojourn in the forest, to cook and eat their dinner of venison beneath
the shelter of their humble roof. The house being completed, the settler next
turns his attention to laying out his farm ; and his first object is to cut down the trees,
which is done by cutting with an axe a deep notch into each side of the tree, about
two feet from the ground, in such a manner that the trees all fall in the same direction ;
the branches are then lopped off, and the timber is suffered to lie on the ground until
the beginning of the following summer, when it is set on fire. By this means all the
branches and small wood are consumed; the large logs are either piled in heaps
and burnt, or rolled away for the purpose of making the zigzag log fences
necessary to keep off the cattle and sheep, which are allowed to range at large. The

* Many Americans make a practice of clearing a few acres of wood farm, and then setting or selling the land
and improvements the first opportunity that offers. When this is accomplished they travel farther into the
forest, and settle upon another farm, which they clear, build on, and dispose of in the same way they did the
first.

100

NEW BRUNSWICK.

timber being thus removed, the ground requires little further preparation for
the seed which is to be sown in it, than merely breaking the surface with a hoe
or harrow. Plentiful crops of corn or potatoes may be raised for two and
often for three years successively after the wood has been burnt on it. The stumps
of the trees are allowed to remain in the ground until they are sufficiently
decayed to be easily removed. The roots of spruce, beech, birch, and maple, will
decay in four or five years ; the pine and hemlock tree require a much longer time.
After the stumps are all removed the land is turned up with the plough, and
the same system of agriculture is practised as in England.

Destructive fires often occur in the woods, sometimes from the effects of lightning,
but more frequently arising from the carelessness of travellers and wood-fellers, who
light fires at the roots of trees, and take no trouble about extinguishing them after-
wards. If the season happens to be dry, the fire soon communicates to the surrounding
trees, and from thence spreading through the forest, it rages with a fury and rapidity
that we can scarcely form a conception of in European countries. Let the reader, if
possible, fancy the devouring flames curling around the stems of the lofty pine trees,
rushing up to their dark tops, and ascending to an immense height amongst the
dense clouds of black smoke arising from a whole forest on fire. At each moment
the falling trees come down with a thundering crash, while sparks and splinters of
burning wood, driven on the wind, spread the destruction far and wide,

“ Through the grey giants of the sylvan wild."

Human means are unavailing to check the progress of the conflagration ; onward
it rushes, extending to every combustible substance, and spreading desolation in
its path until it is quenched by rain, or until it has devoured every thing between
it and the cleared lands, the sea, or some river. In the year 1825 the country
to the north of Miramichi was visited by one of the most disastrous conflagrations
that history has ever recorded ;* upwards of a hundred miles of the shores of
Miramichi were laid waste by the fire, which extended to Fredericton, where it
destroyed the governor’s residence and about eighty other houses ; and carried its
ravages northward as far as the Bay de Chaleur.

* Mr. Me Gregor gives the following account of this dreadful conflagration : “ It appears,” writes he, “ that the
woods had been, on both sides of the north-west branch, partially on fire for some time, but not to an alarming
extent until the 7th of October, when it came on to blow furiously from the north-west, and the inhabitants on
the banks of the river were suddenly alarmed by a tremendous roaring in the woods, resembling the incessant
rolling of thunder ; while at the same time the atmosphere became thickly darkened with smoke. They
had scarcely time to ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, before all the surrounding woods appeared in one
vast blaze, the flames ascending more than a hundred feet above the tops of the loftiest trees, and the fire, like a
gulph in flames, rolling forward with inconceivable celerity. In less than an hour Douglastown and Newcastle
were enveloped in the destroying element, and many of the wretched inhabitants perished in the midst of this ter-
rible fire.” It was calculated that upwards of 500 persons fell victims to the conflagration throughout the province.

FREDERICTON.

101

From the Grand Falls the river takes a course nearly due south, bounded on
either side by precipitous banks and dense forests, whose solemn gloom has not yet
been cheered by the hand of man. About half way between the Falls and
Fredericton the waters of the Meduxnikeag unite with those of the St. John. It
is here the grand and sublime features of the scenery of the latter river soften into
the beautiful and picturesque. The towering and abrupt precipices, — the over-
hanging crags, — the dark and unpenetrated forests, — open into smiling plains and
cultivated farms ; and the numerous beauties which Nature has lavished on the
scene, heightened by art, adorn the landscape with the cheering prospect of human
comfort and prosperity. The river from this place to St. John’s is navigable for
rafts and boats ; and the settlements, though numerous, are chiefly confined to the
banks of the stream, — a situation always selected by early settlers, from the advan-
tages it possesses in enabling them to dispose of the timber with which their land is
encumbered.

Fredericton, the seat of government of this province, is agreeably situated
on a level neck of land, on the south side of the River St. John, about ninety miles
above its mouth. The appearance of the town and the adjacent country, viewed
from the rising ground behind Fredericton, is highly beautiful and luxuriant.
Immediately beneath us stands the College, a plain but extensive building, con-
spicuously placed on the brow of a wooded eminence, overlooking the town ; further
down, on the flat shore, lies the neat cheerful looking town ; and at some distance
on the left, the handsome residence of the governor occupies a charming site
near the water. Bending almost round the town, the majestic river, which is here
not more than a mile in width, flows tranquilly between its banks; but it is no
longer a silent and lonely stream, where the otter and the grey duck make their
home, and —

“ with tawny limb,

And belts and beads in sun-light glistening,

The savage plies his skill', like wild bird on the wing."

Civilization and commerce are now busy upon its waters, — white sails are gliding to
and fro, — and the heavy rafts of the lumberers are seen stealing slowly down the
stream, or occasionally a steamer may be observed, stemming the current that runs
against her in her passage up from St. John’s.

Following the course of the river downwards, the eye traces it for several miles
winding around bold headlands crowned with noble trees, — or, lingering in those
lovely bays where the sombre hue of the surrounding forest scenery is relieved by
cheerful settlements, green fields, and comfortable farm houses, sprinkling the rich
alluvial lands that fringe the shores. Looking upwards, the scene is still more

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picturesque and animated; — the face of the country exhibits more extensive
cultivation, — the settlements are more numerous, — the woods seem to recede from
the shores, yielding their ancient sovereignty of the soil to the untiring industry of
man. The best view of Fredericton is had from the opposite side of the
river, from whence the town presents a very pleasing appearance. Gay spires
and white-walled buildings are seen stretching along the shore for a considerable
distance ; above these the College occupies a commanding situation ; and nearer
to the spectator the tranquil river flows smoothly on, while the dark green woods
that clothe the undulating hills behind the town, form a noble back ground to
the picture : — if to this the reader adds a glorious summer sky, overhanging and
brightening all beneath, the landscape will be complete.

The Governor’s House stands at a short distance from the town, in one of the
most romantic and picturesque situations imaginable. It is a light and elegant
structure, forming a very agreeable object from the river, surrounded as it is by
ornamented plantations, and sheltered by fine upland slopes, clad with rich and
beautiful foliage. The town of Fredericton is laid out with great regularity; the
streets crossing at right angles, as in almost all American towns. The public
buildings are not numerous; the principal are — the Government House, the
College already mentioned, and the barracks, which are good and commodious.
The Episcopal church is a very unpretending building ; there are besides, four
other places of religious worship in the town for the Presbyterian, Methodist,
Baptist, and Roman Catholic inhabitants. The environs are exceedingly pretty ;
neat houses, smiling gardens, and comfortable farms being scattered in every
direction.

The condition of the settlers in the neighbourhood of Fredericton, St. John’s,
and other large towns, is very different from that of the adventurous men who
go forth to make a clearing in the woods ; — their difficulties not being numerous,
nor the labour so incessant, as that which the first settler has to encounter.
The farms of the former are generally in a high state of cultivation : the rude
log-hut has given place to a well-built and commodious dwelling-house, where the
farmer, with his family and a numerous establishment of household servants,
mechanics, and labourers, reside. Around the main building are scattered, with
little regard to regularity or uniformity of appearance, barns, cattle-sheds, stables,
workshops, and out-offices ; and not unfrequently a grist mill and a saw mill ; — all
bearing evidence of the thriving condition of the proprietor, who, if he lives near
the river, is also generally engaged in the timber trade, and employs large gangs of
lumberers in the woods. The following picture of one of these industrious and active
individuals, who had settled near Fredericton, may serve, with few exceptions, for
the whole class : — This man was worth absolutely nothing when he settled on his

'ON TIE GOVfERNEUN A FREDERICTON. NAS NANS EES G-OCTVEENEU'S SIT ENEDEEIC

A SETTLER AND HIS HOUSEHOLD.

10.3

farm, yet by industry and perseverance, he had acquired, in seven years, a handsome
independence. “ He could do little more than read and write; and his manners, though
quite unpolished, were not rude. He had a wonderful readiness of address, and,
as far as related to his own pursuits, quick powers of invention and application. He
raised large crops, ground his own corn, manufactured the flax he cultivated and the
wool of his sheep into coarse cloths ; sold the provisions which his farm produced,
and rum and British goods, to the lumberers, and received timber in payment. He
made axes and other tools required by the lumberers, at his forge. He ate,
gambled, and associated with his own labourers, and all others, who made his house
a kind of rallying point ; he appeared, however, to be a sober man, and a person
who had in view an object of gain in every thing he engaged in.” The person thus
described was an American ; and it is an indisputable fact, that there are no people
who can more readily adapt themselves to all the circumstances peculiar to a new
colony than the descendants of the first settlers in the United States. They exhibit
much more perseverance and ingenuity than the British colonists ; and though the
English farmer is decidedly superior to the Yankee in agricultural knowledge, the
latter possesses, in a greater degree, a quickness of invention where any thing is
required that can be supplied by the use of edge tools. An American settler is not
only a carpenter and joiner, but he can, if necessary, turn his hand to various other
handicrafts ; — he tans leather, builds boats, makes baskets, soap, and sugar ; and is
his own smith, farrier, tailor, and shoemaker. Almost every farmer has a loom in
his house, and his wife and daughters spin the yarn from the wool and flax produced
on the farm, and afterwards weave it into cloth. The home-manufactured woollen
cloth is rather coarse, but extremely durable; it is generally dyed a blue colour.

The habitations of the Americans who have settled in the British colonies are
generally better constructed than those of any other settlers who have not had
the advantage of many years’ residence in the country. But though the house of
the English emigrant, from his imperfect knowledge of the use of edge tools, is
usually a very clumsy affair, the peculiar neatness and comfort which prevails within
doors more than compensates for the want of mechanical skill displayed without.

It has been well observed, that the virtue of cleanliness is one of those which
Englishwomen never forget ; I may add, that no women exhibit more industry and
cheerfulness than the wives of the English settlers. It is no uncommon thing to
see amongst them women, who have been tenderly and delicately brought up, milk-
ing their own cows, making their own butter, and performing tasks of household
work from which they formerly would have shrunk. But a determination to conform
to circumstances, soon reconciles a sensible woman to the duties of her new situa-
tion; and that which was at first irksome, becomes, in a short time, not only
endurable, but a source of real gratification. The value of an industrious, active,

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NEW BRUNSWICK.

and cheerful partner, can be estimated by no one so well as a settler in a new
colony. It is to her that he owes all his domestic comforts and enjoyments. Like
the prudent housewife described by King Solomon, “ She seeketh wool and flax,
and worketh willingly with her hands. She looketh well to the ways of her
household, and eatet’h not the bread of idleness.” Her accomplishments are
numerous, but not exactly those that a fine lady in England might expect. Her
skill is shown in the arts of manufacturing maple sugar ; candle and soap-making ;
baking, cooking, salting meat and fish, knitting stockings and mittens, spinning
woollen yarns, feeding poultry, managing a dairy, and, lastly, in mending and making
clothes for herself, her husband, and children. These are the occupations of an
emigrant’s wife ; and if a female cannot resolve to enter upon them cheerfully, she
should never think of settling in the woods of Canada or New Brunswick.

The grand features of American scenery cannot be viewed to greater advantage
than when sailing down one of those vast rivers which roll the accumulated tributes
of a thousand streams in one majestic flood to the ocean. For this reason, I would
recommend any traveller wishing to proceed from Fredericton to St. John’s, to take
his passage by one of the steam-boats which ply between these places. Descending
the St. John’s, the traveller cannot avoid remarking the extreme beauty of the
shores, which present a succession of undulating hills, alternating with plains of the
richest alluvial land. Sometimes the river assumes the appearance of a picturesque
lake, studded with islands of varied form and size, reflecting, in its glassy surface, the
tints of the lofty pine woods, by which it seems hemmed in. At other times, con-
fined between rocky shores, it rushes onward with troubled speed ; until, again
expanding into a broad stream, it glides, in tranquil beauty, between its beautiful
shores. Frequently, struck by the grandeur of the scenery by which we were
passing, have I longed to gaze upon it at my leisure ; but our boat, like the monster
Time, stayed not for my ardent wishes ; and a passing glimpse was often all I could
obtain of those wild and beautiful spots. Yet purer pleasure I have seldom
experienced than when gliding down this noble river. I can now picture to myself
the dense and lofty forests, clothing the upland slopes ; the lofty hills that overhung
the stream, with pleasant vales between, full of rich fields and green pastures,
sprinkled with flocks and herds, and here and there the cheerful white shingled
dwellings of the industrious settlers! Sometimes the white sail of a fisherman’s boat,
or the painted canoe of the Indian, would cross us in our course. Numerous
timber rafts, dropping sluggishly down with the stream, were overtaken and passed
by us, with groups of lumberers stretched lazily on the floating mass, smoking,
drinking, or sleeping in the sun, and enjoying their brief respite from slavish toil
by uncontrolled abandonment to the luxury of idleness. I shall not, however,
attempt a very minute description of the beautiful and fertile shores of the St.

i

Xond.ou- , Tablislied- for the Proprietors , Ly Geo fVIrtae . 26 , Ivy Lane

THE SPLIT ROCK.

105

John’s River, which, in its descent from Fredericton to the Long Reach, receives
the waters of the Washedemoak and Grand Lake from the east, and the Oromucto
from the west. At the head of the Long Reach, the lands on either side, and the
pretty islands which divide the river into several streams, are unequalled in beauty
and fertilit}\ Belle Isle Bay, a fine sheet of water, branches off here, and extends
into the country a considerable distance. The spacious estuary of the Kenne-
becasis next attracts our attention. The shores are abrupt and rocky, but highly
cultivated. A lovely tract of land called Sussex Vale lies near the head of the bay,
thickly populated, and evincing by its appearance the prosperity and industry ol
its inhabitants. About a mile above the city of St. John, the river, contracted
from the spacious opening of the Kennebecasis Bay, foams over and amongst a
number of huge rocky masses, which appear to have been hurled from the adjacent
heights into the bed of the stream, and, except at certain times of the tide, render
the navigation of the river completely impracticable. This cataract, or rather
succession of cataracts, forms what is called The Falls of St. John. Above the
Falls, the expanded river forms a bay of some extent, surrounded by high and
rugged woodlands. At the lower end of this bay, and at a short distance from the
Falls, stands the picturesque village of Indian Town, which, owing to the hindrance
of the navigation of the river by the Falls, has become a kind of lesser port to
St. John, where numbers of small craft load and unload their cargoes. The
steamer for Fredericton also lies here ; the distance to St. John being not more
than a mile and a half, by a good road. The best view of the Upper Falls is
obtained from the bold heights about midway between Indian Town and St. John.
From this spot, looking up the river, the waters are seen rushing in an immense
body through the scattered rocks which intercept their progress above the Falls
the quiet bay spreads out its blue waves, as if in contrast to the turmoil below,
winding round the abrupt promontories, and washing the white walls of the village
of Indian Town, which is here a beautiful object in the picture.

The Split Rock is that portion of the Falls lying nearest to St. John. The
river here, pent between steep and rugged rocks, foams through its narrow channel
with a tremendous roaring noise. The accompanying engraving represents these
Rapids as they appear at low water, when the turbulent stream assumes an aspect of
terrible and imposing grandeur. The approach to St. John from Indian Town is
through the adjoining village of Portland, a place of some importance as regards the
trade and commerce carried on there. It is the great depot for the timber brought down
from the interior of the country, and the principal wharfs and warehouses being
situated in this part of the city, the traffic is consequently most considerable there.

The intelligent and amusing author of “ Sam Slick,” speaking of the harbour of
St. John, says : — “ No person on entering this harbour, for the first time, could

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NEW BRUNSWICK.

suppose that it was the outlet of one of the largest rivers on the American continent,
as it is in no way to be distinguished in appearance from any of those numerous
inlets of the sea that render the coast of the British provinces every where
accessible to ships of the largest class. As soon, however, as he gets a view of this
noble stream, and becomes acquainted with its magnitude, he feels that St. John is
destined by nature, as well as by the activity and intelligence of its inhabitants, to
become the next largest city to New York on this continent.” To judge of the
importance of its situation, the spectator should view the Harbour and City of
St. John from the heights over Portland. From this vantage ground the landscape
is magnificent. He will behold, as upon a map spread beneath his feet, prairies,
mountains, and woods ; the noble harbour ; the town, with masts of ships, spires of
churches, and houses of various sizes and colours ; the heights of Carleton, on the
opposite side of the harbour; and, spreading away to the southward, the Bay of
Fundy, with the distant shores of Nova Scotia, emerging darkly from the waters :
these, with numerous other picturesque features, form a splendid and beautiful
panorama.

The artist of this work obtained another charming and extensive prospect of
St. John from the Signal, which is planted on the summit of a commanding-
eminence that rises immediately behind the pretty little village of Carleton.* The
aspect of the town from this position is exceedingly fine. Situated on a rocky
peninsula projecting into a safe, spacious, and convenient harbour, it appears
designed by nature to command the trade of the vast tract of country lying between it
and the River St. Lawrence. Indeed, from the appearance of its public buildings, —
of its wharfs and warehouses, — of the noble ships that crowd its port, and of the
numerous steamers that are perpetually plying to and from Boston, Annapolis,
Windsor, and other places, — it is but reasonable to infer that the time is not far
distant when this town will assume an important position in the commercial world.
At the entrance of the harbour is Partridge Island, on which there is a light-house
and a quarantine station ; and further in the harbour, a bar, extending across from
the western side beyond the point on which the city stands. A beacon has been
placed on this bar, which is quite dry at low water. The tide, which runs with
extraordinary force, rises in this harbour from twenty-five to thirty feet perpen-
dicular.

The streets of St. John, owing to the unevenness of the ground upon which the
town has been built, are very irregular, although considerable pains have been taken

* Carleton, named from Sir Guy Carleton, one of the early governors of this province, is a thriving little place,
situated on the opposite side of the harbour to St. John. The saw mills, within the aboiteux, a little above the
village, are deserving the notice of strangers. Opposite to the town is a low muddy islet called Navy Island.
The Indians say that it was carried down at one time by the stream in a body. It is, however, evidently an
alluvial deposit, and has been gradually formed.

K£R ST. JO HIT TJAROESTELLT VOMT SIGMA

4m M/m/ ' o- 7/ VM t :lj/MZ/J//Vc ■/,

LILY LAKE.

107

to level and smooth the rugged surface. The government and public buildings are
generally appropriate and handsome. The principal are the court house, a marine
hospital, a poor house, a gaol, and two fine ranges of barracks, with government
store-houses at the lower cove, which have materially improved the appearance of
this quarter of the city. There are also two Episcopal churches, one an old wooden
structure, the other a modern erection, built in the gothic style, of rough stone ;
a handsome Scotch kirk, two or three neat Methodist chapels, one Catholic and one
Baptist place of worship, and several religious humane and useful societies in
St. John. The country around the town, as I have already observed, is exceed-
ingly picturesque ; and the inhabitants are fond of making little excursions and
pic-nic parties* to favourite places during the summer. I visited one of these
delightful spots during my sojourn at St. John. It lies within an easy walk of the
town, and bears the romantic name of Lily Lake. A straggling road leads to
within a short distance of it, from whence, striking off by a tangled path, through
broken ground, I came suddenly upon the object of my search — a sweet little lake,
reposing in the bosorr^ of a wild valley, upon whose picturesque sides the feathery
larch, the graceful beech, the wild cherry, the Indian pear, with the hazel, juniper
and dogwood tree, formed many a natural thicket and delicious arbour, whose thick
roof of verdant branches is, through the long summer’s day, —

“ alive

And musical with birds, that sing and sport
In wantonness of spirit ; while below,

The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect,

Chirps merrily.

St. John is seen to great advantage from the shores of Lily Lake : — seated on
its rugged peninsula, with houses rising above houses to the summit of the hill, on
whose highest point the tower of the Methodist chapel forms a striking object, the
town makes, with the surrounding scenery, an exceedingly pretty picture.

* Pic-nic excursions are much in vogue all over America. To show how far these differ from any thing to
which they may be compared in England, it may be sufficient to observe, that pic-nic parties generally consist
of families of respectability, with their friends, who are on a perfectly intimate footing with each other. In
summer, some romantic spot is fixed upon, to which the party proceed ; if by water, which is most commonly
the case, in an open boat ; or if by land, in gigs or in calashes, and on horseback. The ladies consider it as
within their particular province to furnish eatables : the gentlemen provide wines and spirits. At these parties
there is usually less restraint and more enjoyment than at the assemblies. On some grassy glade, shaded by the
luxuriant branches of forest trees, and not far from some clear spring or rivulet, the contents of the well-filled
baskets are disclosed ; feasting on which forms certainly the most substantial part of the day’s enjoyment ; but
perhaps the most agreeable is that which succeeds, when the party divides for the pleasure of walking ; and there
are undoubtedly “ worse occupations in the world ” than wandering with a pretty woman through the skirts of
a wood, or along the margin of the sea, enjoying “ sweet converse ” and the delights of the open air and sur-
rounding scenery. As the evening approaches they re-assemble; and the party, followed by their servants
bringing along the fragments of the pic-nic, return to the boat, in which they embark. — McGregor's Sketches.

108

NEW BRUNSWICK.

Having now conducted my readers, from the Canadian boundary, through a vast
extent of territory, tracing, in our route, the course of the magnificent river
St. John, with its myriads of lakes and tributary streams, opening an inland
navigation to almost every part of this fine province, I shall next make a rambling
tour through the sister colony of Nova Scotia, describing, as I go along, the most
striking and romantic features of that country, which will form the concluding
portion of this work. Before quitting New Brunswick, I shall offer a few brief
observations on some of the most prominent advantages and disadvantages of the
colony. The rigours of the climate in winter, about which so much has been said,
and which seems to have deterred many English emigrants from settling here, have
been considerably exaggerated. The fact is, the climate has of late been materially
ameliorated ; the winters are by no means so severe, or of the same duration, as they
were fifteen or twenty years since. The reason is obvious : the rapidity with which
settlers are clearing the forest, and opening the face of the earth to the light of day,
gives to the sun’s influence a much greater extent of country annually ; as a natural
consequence, the snows melt more early and rapidly, and the winters become pro-
portionably short. When the colony was but thinly inhabited, the winter com-
menced eaidy in November, and continued generally until the end of April ; latterly,
however, there has been no dead winter until Christmas, and the spring has usually
opened in the beginning of April. But even the winter has its advantages and
pleasures. The snow which falls then protects the herbage and winter grain from
the severity of the frost, and natural roads are formed on the hardened snow, which
materially facilitate the labours of the farmer and the lumberer. When the cold is
extreme, the inhabitants keep within doors ; and, fuel being abundant, they feel
little of the severity of the frost without. As soon as a favourable change takes
place in the weather, the roads and rivers are again alive with sleighs and sleds,
drawn by horses, and posting at a rapid rate, in all directions, over the glassy surface
of the ice ; the former as vehicles of pleasure, and the latter laden with provisions
for the markets. Many settlers travel in these sleds from two to three hundred
miles to the city for a market, (such trips being seldom made more than once a year,)
when they barter their farm produce for tea, tobacco, hardware, and other luxuries
which their farms do not yield. The summer, as I have already observed, is truly
delightful ; the air, notwithstanding the heat, is pure, and the nights at this
season exceed in splendour the most beautiful in Europe. The autumn very much
resembles an English autumn — the days warm, and the evenings delightfully cool.
The productions of the province necessary for man’s support are various and abun-
dant : — wheat and Indian corn, with hay on the intervale * lands. Peas, beans, carrots,

* This word is usually applied to land so situated, with respect to some adjacent stream or river, as to be
occasionally overflowed by it, and thus to enjoy the advantage of alluvial deposits.

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ANNAPOLIS.

109

turnips, mangel-worzel, and other culinary vegetables, thrive remarkably well.
Melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers are produced in the open fields. Apple trees,
though not yet sufficiently plentiful, thrive well in the upper parts of the province.
Grapes, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, blueberries, currants, and
gooseberries, are indigenous to the country, and are found in abundance in the
woods. As far as raspberries are concerned, it is a singular circumstance, that,
immediately after the clearing of a piece of land, its whole surface, unless kept down
by annual crops, will be overrun with raspberry bushes, which in the second year
are in full bearing. The most serious disadvantage under which New Brunswick
labours is a deficiency of roads. There are, it is true, roads between the principal
towns and settlements, but they cannot be said to be continually effective, or in a
state to afford a constant and practicable mode of conveyance. Few of them are
passable for carriages for any considerable distance, and at many seasons of the
year are wholly untraversable. The most important is the post road from Nova Scotia
to Canada, which crosses the province diagonally from the city of St. John, and
runs parallel to St. John’s River, on its western side. It is passable for carriages
fourteen miles above Fredericton, but only' in summer : in spring and autumn it is
very wet ; and in winter, the only mode of travelling is by the ice, on the river.

The distance from St.John’s River to Annapolis Bason in Nova Scotia* may be
about thirty miles, across the Bay of Fundy, the passage being usually performed by
the steam packets which run regularly between these places. The entrance to the
bason is through a narrow strait, called Digby Gut, whose precipitous sides suggest
the idea of a passage having been opened through the North Mountain by some
violent convulsion of nature. On entering the bason, one of the most magnificent
havens in America opens to the view ; on its western shore the small but
beautiful village of Digby is situated, on the gentle slope of a hill, commanding
a view of part of Granville and Clements, and of the broad Bay of Annapolis,
which receives the collected waters of the Annapolis, Moose, and Bear rivers. The
air of Digby is remarkably salubrious, and the situation particularly agreeable in
summer. The author of “ Sam Slick,” in his pleasant work, eulogizes this town as
“ The Brighton of Nova Scotia, the resort of the valetudinarians who take refuge
here from the unrelenting fogs, hopeless sterility, and calcareous waters of St. John’s.”
We can forgive this partiality on the part of the talented writer, who is always

* The province of Nova Scotia is an extensive peninsula, connected with the continent of North America by a
narrow isthmus of only eight miles in width, between Bay Verte in the Straits of Northumberland, and
Cumberland Bason at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy. It is supposed to have been discovered in
1497, by John Cabot, then in the service of Henry VII. of England. The first settlement was made there in
1604, by a number of French adventurers, who founded Port Royal, now Annapolis; by these the country was
named Acadia. The occupation by France of this important province was opposed by England, and was the
cause of the hostilities between these countries in America, which did not terminate until France was stripped
of all her North American possessions by the peace of 1763.

VOL. II.

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110

NOVA SCOTIA.

enthusiastic in his praise of Nova Scotia; and, without depreciating the merits of a
neighbouring colony, accord to Digby the praise of being a delightful and healthy
summer residence. The shores of the bay are eminently picturesque — displaying
all the softer features of English park scenery, mingled with the primeval wildness
of an American landscape in all its sylvan luxuriance and solitude.

The same steamer which conveyed you to Digby takes you, if you wish it, on to
Annapolis, a small town situated on the river Annapolis, at the eastern extremity
of the bay. It is built upon the extremity of a peninsula, which, projecting into the
river, forms two beautiful basons, one above and the other below the town. This
place, the earliest settlement, and the capital of the province, while under the
dominion of France, was called Port Royal; but changed to Annapolis Royal, in
honour of Queen Anne, in whose reign it was ceded to England. Mr. Haliburton
tells us that, “in addition to its being the most ancient, it is also the most loyal
city of this Western Hemisphere. This character it has always sustained; and
‘ royal,’ as a mark of peculiar favour, has ever been added to its cognomen by every
government that has ever had dominion over it.” But royal patronage does not
seem to have done much towards improving the condition of the place, for it has
increased little in size or population since the conquest of the province. It is,
however, a respectable town, and contains — a government-house, court-house,
Episcopalian and Methodist churches, a respectable academy, supported by a
legislative grant, commodious barracks, and several handsome private buildings.
From the circumstance of the first governors of the province having resided at
Annapolis, many of the most interesting subjects relating to the history of the
colony are connected with this town. Indeed, it is impossible to walk in its
pleasant environs, without being struck with the “old w'orld” look of the country,
— the quickset hedges, and the neatness of the farms and gardens, reminding one
forcibly of an English rural scene. The view that best pleased me in this neighbour-
hood was that from the old fort of Annapolis, on the south-western extremity
of the peninsula, which commands a fine prospect of the broad and beautiful bason,
the settlements on the Granville shore, and part of Clements. These fortifications,
which were erected at an immense expense, are in a dilapidated condition ; the cannon
dismounted, and incapable, in the present state, of sustaining a defence. An old
block-house, in a ruinous state, has an air of antiquity rarely to be met with in this
country ; its venerable appearance struck me as being quite un-American.

In no part of Nova Scotia are so many natural and artificial curiosities to be met
with as in the neighbourhood of Annapolis, — of these, the most singular are, the
natural ice-house, a deep ravine wherein ice maybe found throughout the summer, —
the lake on the summit of the mountain, — the point of land on the Granville shore,
opposite to Goat island, where the first piece of ground was cleared for cultivation

THE GENERAL'S BRIDGE.

Ill

in this colony by the French, and where is still shown the stone on which they had
rudely engraved the date of their settlement, (1606,) as a memorial of their formal
possession of the country,* — the iron mines, on the Moose river, — and, not the least
interesting, The General’s Bridge, a romantic spot, about two miles from
Annapolis, which I visited during my brief stay in this neighbourhood. The walk to it
was most delightful : first, through the pretty suburbs of the town, and then, by a road
through luxuriant woods, till I came suddenly upon the secluded valley, embosomed
amongst undulating hills, through which rushed a rapid stream, dancing and sparkling
in the bright beams of an early sun. An old wooden bridge, thrown across the
brawling current, formed a striking object in the picture ; while, nearer to us, the
wigwams of a party of Indians, who had encamped on a slip of intervale land, com-
pleted the picturesque character of the scene. While the artist who accompanied
me was engaged making his sketch of the place, I entered one of the wigwams of
the Indians, and learnt that they were journeying from Annapolis to Liverpool, by
way of the Rossignol Lakes, which, with the exception of two short portages, form, it
is said, a continued chain of navigable water across the whole province, but rarely
travelled, except by the Indians. Having purchased from the squaw a pair of slippers,
ornamented very ingeniously with small glass beads and porcupine quills, and a fan
formed from the skin of some fish, tastefully dyed with various colours, all of Indian
manufacture, I rejoined my companion, who had completed his sketch, and returned
to Annapolis. The road from Annapolis to Windsor runs parallel to the course of
the Annapolis river, along that high ridge which stretches from the Digby Gut to
the Bason of Minas, an extent of seventy miles of coast, without the intervention of
a single harbour. This tract, notwithstanding this disadvantage, is settled by indus-
trious families, who have, in general, excellent and well-cultivated farms. The towns
are clean and thriving ; but we meet none worthy of particular notice, until we reach
Kentville, a prettily situated village, containing several handsome private resi-
dences, a court-house, gaol, and a good grammar-school. The views in the vicinitj''
of Kentville are remarkably fine, and the formation of the land such as to present
the greatest diversity of landscape ; the chief charm of which consists in the un-
usual combination of hill, dale, woods, and cultivated fields, — in the calm beauty of
agricultural scenery, — and in the romantic wilderness of the distant forests. The
numerous orchards, and the general fertility of the land in this and the adjoining
township of Horton, have procured for them the title of the “ garden of the pro-
vince.”

Between Kentville and Windsor, the traveller crosses the Horton Mountain, from

* This stone was discovered in 1827 : it is about two feet and a half long and two feet broad ; on the upper
part are engraved the square and compass of the free-mason, and in the centre, in large and deeply cut Arabic
figures, the date 1606.

112

NOVA SCOTIA.

whence he may obtain a view of extraordinary beauty and extent. Behind him
lies the township of Horton and Cornwallis, over which he has just passed, beauti-
fully watered by the rivers that meander through them : beyond, is a lofty and
extended chain of hills, presenting a vast chasm — the entrance to the Bason of
Minas— through which the nineteen rivers that pour their waters into this vast
reservoir appear to have forced an embouchure into the Bay of Eundy. The
variety and extent of this prospect, — the rich and verdant vale of Gaspereaux, — the
extended township of Horton, interspersed with groves of wood, farm-houses,
orchards, and cultivated fields, — the Grand Prairie, sheltered by evergreen forests of
dark foliage, — the blue highlands of the opposite side of the Bason, — and the cloud-
capt summit of the lofty cape that terminates the chain of the North Mountain, form
an assemblage of picturesque objects, rarely united with so striking an effect.

The approach to the town of Windsor, from the western road, is by a handsome
wooden bridge, recently constructed over the river Avon, which was formerly crossed
by means of an inconvenient and unsafe ford, passable only at low water. The Avon
takes its rise in the extensive lakes that lie between Chester and Windsor ; but, though
navigable for some miles above the latter place, it would be little better than a large
brook, were it not for the augmentation it receives from the flow of the tide from
the Bason of Minas, which occasions an extraordinary rise and fall of the river at
Windsor ; being about thirty feet at spring tides. The Avon receives the Kennet-
cook, Cockmagon, and the St. Croix rivers, a short distance below Windsor, and
discharges their united streams into the Bason of Minas. The country in the
neighbourhood of the town is exceedingly beautiful, being agreeably diversified
with hill, dale, and lawn. The luxuriance of the meadows, — the chain of high hills
on the south and west, clothed with wood of variegated foliage, — and the white sails
of vessels gliding through the serpentine windings of the Avon and St. Croix, — are
amongst the leading features of this interesting landscape. Windsor is an extremely
neat and pretty town, with a Protestant church, and Presbyterian, Methodist, Bap-
tist, and Roman Catholic chapels. The private houses are numerous and tastefully
built, and have, with few exceptions, large gardens and orchards attached to them.
On an elevated and beautiful spot of ground, a short distance from the town, stands
the University of King’s College, which has the power of bestowing degrees, similar
to those granted by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The View of
Windsor, shown in the accompanying engraving, was taken from a spot near the
residence of Judge Haliburton, — better known in the world of letters on both sides of
the Atlantic, as the author of the humorous “ Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick,”
the first work that ever truly delineated that most singularly amusing character —
a Down-East dealer — and gave us a correct picture of the quaint, shrewd, impudent,
but good-humoured Yankee, in all his striking originality of thought and action.

p

V

THE BASON OF MINAS.

113

The spectator, in this view, is supposed to be looking down the river Avon, towards
the bay : beneath him is seen the picturesque town, with its new bridge ; and in the
distance, the winding shores, to which the rich woods and cultivated farms give a
diversified and beautiful appearance. The Residence of Judge Haliburton is
a small but elegant structure, delightfully situated on an eminence, which, as I have
just observed, commands a noble prospect of the whole township. This charming
retreat is surrounded by thriving plantations of beech, white maple, poplar, juniper,
and other ornamental trees. Fruits of the most delicate kinds are produced in the
garden ; indeed, the sheltered situation of Windsor is peculiarly favourable for
raising the tender produce of more genial climates. Mr. Haliburton remarks, that
“ peaches, though subject, from the early blossoms they put forth, to be injured by
frosts, have been known to ripen without artificial aid or even common shelter ;
and grapes, pears, and quinces, and a great variety of summer and autumnal plums,
arrive at perfection in all ordinary seasons.”

The communication between Halifax and New Brunswick is maintained by means
of steam packets, which ply between St.John’s and Windsor, from which latter
place there is an excellent mail-coach road to Halifax. The passage across the Bay
of Fundy, and through the Bason of Minas, is said to be rather dangerous, owing
to the rapid tides, the rocky shores, and the fogs which prevail on these coasts.

The Bason of Minas is one of the most remarkable and beautiful inlets in
North America. Its entrance is through a strait about three miles in width, with
bold craggy shores. Outside this strait, the tides in the Bay of Fundy are rapid but
regular ; but within, the rise of the tide is greater than in any other part of
America ; in spring tides it flows to the height of seventy feet in the narrow
part of the bason. The phenomenon called the Bore is an attendant or rather pre-
cursor of the flood tide, which approaches in a line of foam, extending across the bay
about four or five feet high, and rolling over the sands at the rate of four miles,
or upwards, an hour. The appearance of the shores of the Bason of Minas,
while sailing towards its entrance, is exceedingly beautiful — the luxuriant woods,
lagoons, hills, dales, bays, rivers and headlands, the numerous picturesque islands,
the extensive farms, verdant prairies, and thriving villages which meet the eye
on every side, form a succession of rich and varied landscapes. Near the
entrance of the bason on the western shore is the remarkable headland called Cape
Blomedon, or more generally — Cape Blow-me-down, which forms the termination of
the chain of hills that run parallel to the shores of the Bay of Fundy from Anna-
polis. This headland presents a singularly abrupt and imposing appearance ; its
perpendicular front is of a dark red colour, and its rugged head may be seen at a
great distance, emerging from the thick mists by which it is frequently encompassed.
On the opposite side of the channel is the pretty little village of Parrsborough,

VOL. II.

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114

X OVA SCOTIA.

sheltered by the bluff cliff called Partridge Island ; which, resisting the force of the
tides in the Bay of Fundy, makes a secure harbour for the craft engaged in the
navigation of the Bason of Minas and the adjoining rivers. Through the narrow
channel between Partridge Island and Cape Split, at the outer entrance of the
bason, the great body of water collected in this immense reservoir escapes into the
Bay of Fundy. The singular appearance of this Cape, whose detached masses of
rock appear to have been shivered by some mighty convulsion of nature, and shaken
from their original foundations, has never failed to excite the surprise and admiration
of every stranger who has seen it. A mail-coach road runs from Windsor to
Halifax, which crosses the St. Croix river at a short distance from the former place.
On the border of the St. Croix Lakes is the hill of Ardoise, the highest land in the
province, from whence may be had a distant prospect, of Windsor, Falmouth,
Newport, and the beautiful country around the Bason of Minas. The road, as we
approach Halifax, winds for nearly ten miles along the western shore of Bedford
Bason, which is connected with the outer harbour by a narrow passage at the dock
yard ; — this inner bason is a beautiful sheet of water, containing ten square miles of
safe anchorage. The scenery here, though not highly romantic, is agreeably pictu-
resque ; and the shores of the bason are indented with numerous coves, and well-
sheltered inlets of great beauty. About seven miles from Halifax are the ruins of
what was once the favourite country residence of His Royal Highness the Duke of
Kent, when commanding the forces in this province. “It is impossible,” says Mr.
Haliburton, “to visit this spot without the most melancholy feelings : the tottering
fences, the prostrate gates, the ruined grottoes, the long and winding avenues,
cut out of the forest, overgrown by rank grass and occasional shrubs, and the
silence and desolation that pervade everything around, all bespeak a rapid and
premature decay, recall to mind the untimely fate of its noble and lamented owner,
and tell of fleeting pleasures, and the transitory nature of all earthly things. I
stopped at a small inn in the neighbourhood, for the purpose of strolling over it for
the last time ere I left the country, and for the indulgence of those moralizing
musings which at times harmonized with our nerves and awaked what may be called
the pleasurable sensations of melancholy.”

The harbour of Halifax is one of the finest in the world : — it is capacious, safe,
accessible at all seasons of the year, and easy of approach for vessels of the largest
size. Three miles from Halifax and near the mouth of the harbour is Mac Nab’s
Island, which forms two entrances, called the eastern and western passage ; but the
former is only used by small vessels. The North-west Arm is an inlet branching off
from the main entrance of the harbour, and penetrating about four miles into the
land ; it winds in the rear of the town until it approaches to within half a mile of
Bedford Bason, forming the peninsula upon which the town is built. The situation

FROM DARTMOUTH.

V

HALIFAX.

115

of Halifax is on the east side of the peninsula, on the declivity of a commanding
hill, whose summit is between two and three hundred feet above the level of the sea.
Near the southern part of the peninsula stands a strong martello tower, which com-
mands on one side the harbour of Halifax, and that of the Arm on the other. The
author of “ Sam Slick” gives the following humorous description of the attractions to
be found in its neighbourhood. “ It is situated,” he writes, “ at the termination
of a fashionable promenade, which is skirted on one side by a thick shrubbery,
and on the other by the waters of the harbour ; the former being the resort of
those of both sexes who delight in the impervious shade of the spruce, and the
latter of those who prefer swimming and other aquatic exercises. With these
attractions to the lovers of nature and a pure air, it is thronged at all hours, but
more especially at day-dawn, by the valetudinarian, the aged, and infirm ; and at the
witching hour of moonlight, by those who are young enough to defy the dew
and damp air of night.” The streets of Halifax are wide, and intersect each other
at right angles ; some of them are paved, others macadamized, and from the ascent
and nature of the soil are usually dry. The houses, however, are irregularly built,
no uniformity in the height and size being observed in their construction ; handsome
buildings of three and four stories high being intermingled with old and mean look-
ing edifices. The new houses built of wood, being large, neatly finished, and
painted white, are more imposing in their appearance than those of brick and stone.
Amongst the public buildings, the government house, — the residence of the
governor of the province for the time, — is a large gloomy-looking structure, built of
freestone, and situated at the southern extremity of the town. The Province
Building, which is admitted to be the most splendid edifice in North America, stands
within a square in the centre of the town. It is built of freestone quarried in the
province, and its plan combines elegance with strength and utility ; its length is 140
feet, its breadth 70, and its elevation 45 feet. It contains the chambers of the
Council, and Legislative Assembly, — the Supreme Court, with its appendant
offices ; also all the provincial offices, — the Halifax public library, &c. There are
two Episcopal churches ; one (St. Paul’s) is a handsome edifice with a tall spire ; the
other, the Rotunda church, at the north end of the town, is distinguished by a
dome which gives it a remarkable appearance. Halifax also contains two Presby-
terian, one Methodist, two Baptist, and one Roman Catholic chapel ; besides a
Sandemanian meeting - house. The court-house is a plain brick building.
Dalhousie College, established in 1820, is a spacious and handsome structure, situate
at the end of the old military parade.

Viewed from the village of Dartmouth, on the opposite shore of the harbour,
the town of Halifax appears to singular advantage. The front of the town is
lined with ships, warehouses, and wharfs, amongst which Cunnard’s wharf, with one

116

NOVA SCOTIA.

of his fine steam-packets lying alongside, forms a conspicuous object. Above these
the spires of the different churches and the neat tower of the methodist chapel are
seen intermingled with the houses that cover the side of the hill, upon whose
summit stands the citadel which commands the town and harbour. To the left, in
the distance, is the entrance of the harbour ; and nearer to the spectator, the nume-
rous boats and vessels in motion upon the water, with the busy little steam ferry
boat plying constantly between Dartmouth and Halifax, give life and animation to
the picture.

Halifax has been always the principal naval station of British North America ;
and though it has lost much of its consequence since the termination of the
last war, it is still the most important town in the possession of England in
this part of the world, forming as it does the great military and naval depot for
her North American and West Indian colonies. The dock-yard here is the most
extensive establishment of the kind out of England; it is enclosed on the land side
by a high stone wall, and contains within it every requisite for repairing and
refitting the largest ships. On an eminence above the dock-yard, and commanding
a view of the harbour, is the residence of the admiral, who commands the squadron
on the American station. There is also a large wooden building, at the south
end of the town, for the use of the military commandant ; with two barracks, a
military hospital, ordnance and commissariat stores, &c. Halifax is the station
for the North American packets, which convey the mails regularly once a month
to and from Falmouth. The old worthless gun-brigs, which, to the disgrace of
England, were employed for a length of time in this service, have at length been
removed ; and the mails are now carried by Cunnard’s splendid steamers, which
frequently make the passage from England out in ten days, touch at Halifax, where
they deliver the mails, and proceed without delay to Boston, which they generally
reach in two days. This increased facility in the communication between England
and Nova Scotia will do more towards improving the colony than any thing that
has been hitherto attempted, and will be the means of making Halifax one of the
most flourishing towns in British North America.

THE END.

It. Cl. AY, PRINTER, DREAD STREET HILL.

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